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 Mountain Home responded to 71 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
506 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 94 | — | |
| 2022 | 115 | +22.3% | |
| 2023 | 125 | +8.7% | |
| 2024 | 101 | -19.2% | |
| 2025 | 71 | -29.7% |
For the 9 building fires Mountain Home departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 170 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 54 | 31.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 33 | 19.4% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 12 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Other | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 32 | 18.8% |
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 Mountain Home mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 46 | 27.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 46 | 27.1% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 32 | 18.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mountain Home departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mountain Home sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,951,911 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Natural | 306,113 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 192,846 | 36.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 177,544 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 146,832 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 146,400 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 135,231 | 9.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 129,730 | 17.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 67,069 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 67,061 | 34.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 64,193 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 61,929 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 48,894 | 43.3 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 | 83647 | 506 |
Six Idaho cities with population within ±25% of Mountain Home. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Mountain Home.
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.