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 Ririe responded to 42 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
126 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | — | |
| 2023 | 19 | -24.0% | |
| 2024 | 29 | +52.6% | |
| 2025 | 42 | +44.8% |
* Well below Ririe's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 2 building fires Ririe departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 41 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 | Outside area, other | 8 | 19.5% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 5 | 12.2% | |
| 4 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 14.6% |
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 Ririe mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 24.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 6 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 4 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 9.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 9 | Match | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 4.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ririe departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ririe sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 503,972 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Natural | 112,106 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 99,502 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52,512 | 19.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 39,562 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 27,181 | 22.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 22,989 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 17,588 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 16,613 | 36.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 12,107 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 12,068 | 20.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 9,918 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 9,676 | 37.9 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 | 83443 | 126 |
Six Idaho cities with population within ±25% of Ririe. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.