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 Yankton responded to 89 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 46% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
284 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022* | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 90 | — | |
| 2024 | 86 | -4.4% | |
| 2025 | 89 | +3.5% |
* Well below Yankton'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 Yankton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 101 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 | 20 | 19.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 15 | 14.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 13.9% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Other | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 14.9% |
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 Yankton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 22 | 21.8% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 8.9% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 8 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 22.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Yankton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $6,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Yankton sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,874 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 2,464 | 29.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1,400 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,200 | 12.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,125 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 870 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 800 | 6.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 700 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 700 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 36.1 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 South Dakota cities with population within ±25% of Yankton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Yankton.
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.