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 Sun Valley responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Jan peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
118 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $910K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 14 | — | |
| 2022 | 16 | — | |
| 2023 | 42 | +162.5% | |
| 2024 | 23 | -45.2% | |
| 2025 | 23 | +0.0% |
* Well below Sun Valley'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 3 building fires Sun Valley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13 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 | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 1 | 7.7% |
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 Sun Valley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 46.2% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sun Valley departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sun Valley sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,012,843 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Natural | 178,459 | 44.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 149,250 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 111,497 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Firearms and explosives use | 64,763 | 17.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49,912 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 48,000 | 11.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 40,483 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 37,725 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 35,238 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 33,867 | 34.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 25,039 | 16.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 24,810 | 44.3 mi |
Top 3 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 Sun Valley. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sun Valley.
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.