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 Victor responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
186 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022 | 33 | — | |
| 2023 | 51 | +54.5% | |
| 2024 | 46 | -9.8% | |
| 2025 | 48 | +4.3% |
* Well below Victor'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 7 building fires Victor departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 55 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 | 18 | 32.7% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 4 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 12.7% |
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 Victor mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 9 | 16.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 7 | 12.7% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 4 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 10.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Victor departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,500 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Victor sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 794,611 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Natural | 145,040 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 62,034 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 53,902 | 18.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 48,300 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 42,694 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 36,045 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 34,552 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 33,948 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 29,062 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 25,877 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 25,873 | 17.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 25,680 | 21.0 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 | 59875 | 186 |
Six Montana cities with population within ±25% of Victor. 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.