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 Williston responded to 214 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $360K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
872 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $7.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 70 | — | |
| 2022* | 60 | — | |
| 2023 | 262 | — | |
| 2024 | 266 | +1.5% | |
| 2025 | 214 | -19.5% |
* Well below Williston'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 12 building fires Williston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 434 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 | 91 | 21.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 55 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 48 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 32 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 28 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 24 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Other | 20 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 15 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 9 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 103 | 23.7% |
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 Williston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 182 | 41.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 26 | 6.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 26 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 26 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 23 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 19 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 18 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 18 | 4.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 11 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 64 | 14.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Williston departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $360,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $246,400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $135,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $45,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,925 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Williston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 71,954 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 51,627 | 39.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 7,979 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,328 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,464 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,200 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 620 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 600 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 542 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 400 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 350 | 44.8 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 North Dakota cities with population within ±25% of Williston. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Williston.
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.