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 Washburn responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
49 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 8 | -20.0% | |
| 2023 | 8 | +0.0% | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 18 | — |
* Well below Washburn'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 1 building fires Washburn departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 39 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 | 11 | 28.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 12.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 4 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 10.3% |
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 Washburn mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 4 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 10.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Washburn sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 29,908 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 6,000 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 4,045 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 2,554 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 1,764 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 1,500 | 11.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,280 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 10.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,008 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 22.8 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 | 58577 | 49 |
Six North Dakota cities with population within ±25% of Washburn. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Washburn.
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.