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 Spirit Lake responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Jun peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
261 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $650K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 23 | — | |
| 2022 | 57 | — | |
| 2023 | 64 | +12.3% | |
| 2024 | 59 | -7.8% | |
| 2025 | 58 | -1.7% |
* Well below Spirit Lake'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 6 building fires Spirit Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 57 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 | Undetermined | 13 | 22.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 9 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Other | 5 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Egress/exit, other | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 15.8% |
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 Spirit Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 43.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Fireworks | 4 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 3 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 8.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Spirit Lake departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Spirit Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 74,512 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Natural | 12,764 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 7,871 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 7,700 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,017 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 5,298 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 4,980 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 3,840 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 3,700 | 42.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 3,020 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 2,680 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 2,057 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 1,794 | 33.2 mi |
Top 6 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Idaho cities with population within ±25% of Spirit Lake. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Spirit Lake.
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.