Red Flag Warnings Blanket Five Northern Rockies and Plains States
Critical fire weather triggered Red Flag Warnings across Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and the Dakotas on Sept. 10, capping an active season in the region.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Mission responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
219 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $100 cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 31 | — | |
| 2022 | 49 | +58.1% | |
| 2023 | 53 | +8.2% | |
| 2024 | 52 | -1.9% | |
| 2025 | 34 | -34.6% |
For the 7 building fires Mission departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 166 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 44 | 26.5% | |
| 2 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 24 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 17 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 16 | 9.6% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 8.4% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 28 | 16.9% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Mission mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 99 | 59.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 6.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 7 | 4.2% | |
| 4 | Fireworks | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Match | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 21 | 12.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mission sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 248,236 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Natural | 66,745 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 45,767 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 43,639 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,500 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 14,453 | 23.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 9,000 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 5,700 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 5,305 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 4,723 | 20.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 3,600 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,100 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 3,004 | 18.2 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 57555 | 219 |
Six South Dakota cities with population within ±25% of Mission. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Mission.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.