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.
MTWYIDND
In 2025, fire departments serving Whitefish responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Whitefish's departments reported 18 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 132 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Jul peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
660 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $3.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 204 | — | |
| 2022 | 183 | -10.3% | |
| 2023 | 183 | +0.0% | |
| 2024* | 72 | — | |
| 2025* | 18 | — |
* Well below Whitefish'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 13 building fires Whitefish departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 71 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 | 15 | 21.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Wall assembly | 4 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 4 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Other | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 25.4% |
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 Whitefish mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 30 | 42.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 9 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 6 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 9.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Whitefish sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 458,027 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Natural | 71,000 | 10.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 57,273 | 9.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 50,981 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 34,203 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 29,921 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 21,000 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 18,847 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 18,702 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 16,982 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 14,522 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 14,194 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 12,938 | 37.1 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Montana cities with population within ±25% of Whitefish. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Whitefish.
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.