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 Whitehall responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $6K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
221 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $253K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 53 | — | |
| 2022 | 32 | -39.6% | |
| 2023* | 19 | — | |
| 2024 | 88 | — | |
| 2025 | 29 | -67.0% |
* Well below Whitehall'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 5 building fires Whitehall departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 37 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 | 11 | 29.7% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 13.5% |
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 Whitehall mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 48.6% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 5.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Whitehall departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,700 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Whitehall sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 168,770 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 81,220 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Fireworks | 15,341 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 12,457 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 8,721 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,300 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 5,157 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 4,400 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 4,325 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 3,789 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 2,932 | 13.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 2,743 | 6.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 2,569 | 33.1 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 | 59759 | 221 |
Six Montana cities with population within ±25% of Whitehall. 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.