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 across Idaho responded to 11,358 fire and hazmat incidents — including the Elk Mountain wildfire that burned 578,404 acres in 2007.
Idaho ranks #4 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 42% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Jul peaks across the window; Feb dips.
58,932 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12,572 | |
| 2022 | 11,373 | |
| 2023 | 11,573 | |
| 2024 | 12,056 | |
| 2025 | 11,358 |
For the 1,081 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Natural (lightning) | 26,325 | 25,924 / 401 | 12,777,110 | |
| 2 | Undetermined / missing | 7,697 | 3,654 / 4,043 | 1,281,507 | |
| 3 | Equipment & vehicle use | 5,139 | 3,151 / 1,988 | 765,680 | |
| 4 | Arson / incendiarism | 2,925 | 730 / 2,195 | 154,149 | |
| 5 | Recreation & ceremony | 2,836 | 2,836 / 0 | 260,288 | |
| 6 | Debris & open burning | 2,307 | 2,307 / 0 | 291,660 | |
| 7 | Firearms & explosives | 1,106 | 1,106 / 0 | 124,241 | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 572 | 572 / 0 | 40,080 | |
| 9 | Power generation / utility | 549 | 549 / 0 | 197,268 | |
| 10 | Smoking | 549 | 549 / 0 | 23,492 | |
| 11 | Other causes | 386 | 88 / 298 | 11,024 | |
| 12 | Railroad operations | 344 | 344 / 0 | 18,368 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outdoor fires | 16,012 | $33.2M | 2 | |
| 2 | Building fires | 10,306 | $388.6M | 46 | |
| 3 | Gas leaks | 9,943 | $425K | 0 | |
| 4 | Wildland fires | 9,920 | $32.3M | 2 | |
| 5 | Electrical / wiring | 6,440 | $327K | 0 | |
| 6 | Vehicle fires | 4,198 | $65.3M | 21 | |
| 7 | Rubbish / refuse | 3,956 | $1.3M | 0 | |
| 8 | Cooking-related | 2,224 | $519K | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 1,044 | $4.7M | 1 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 11% of Idaho's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | naples | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Major |
| 2 | $1,200,000 | Hayden | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $1,000,000 | ATHOL | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $1,000,000 | ATHOL | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Major |
| 5 | $1,000,000 | COEUR D ALENE | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $1,000,000 | Kimberly | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $954,465 | Ketchum | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $900,000 | St Anthony | Accident, potential accident, other | Major |
| 9 | $869,360 | COEUR D ALENE | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $800,000 | MERIDIAN | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare Idaho apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ada County | 2,282 | 438,714 |
| 2 | Canyon County | 1,539 | 179,263 |
| 3 | Kootenai County | 1,104 | 128,523 |
| 4 | Twin Falls County | 647 | 66,542 |
| 5 | Bonneville County | 631 | 92,072 |
| 6 | Bannock County | 605 | 79,693 |
| 7 | Bonner County | 440 | 16,648 |
| 8 | Latah County | 338 | 30,670 |
| 9 | Madison County | 283 | 40,858 |
| 10 | Blaine County | 265 | 18,225 |
Top 6 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Twin Falls County | 9.72 | 647 | 66,542 | |
| 2 | Canyon County | 8.59 | 1,539 | 179,263 | |
| 3 | Kootenai County | 8.59 | 1,104 | 128,523 | |
| 4 | Bannock County | 7.59 | 605 | 79,693 | |
| 5 | Bonneville County | 6.85 | 631 | 92,072 | |
| 6 | Ada County | 5.20 | 2,282 | 438,714 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elk Mountain | 2007 | BLM | 578,403 |
| 2 | LONG BUTTE | 2010 | BLM | 305,994 |
| 3 | Mustang Complex | 2012 | USFS | 287,852 |
| 4 | SODA | 2015 | BLM | 279,111 |
| 5 | Diamond Pt Complex | 2000 | USFS | 234,315 |
| 6 | Pioneer | 2016 | USFS | 188,404 |
| 7 | PADDOCK | 2024 | BLM | 187,184 |
| 8 | Halstead | 2012 | USFS | 179,308 |
| 9 | Clear Creek | 2000 | USFS | 164,755 |
| 10 | Moose | 2022 | USFS | 130,197 |
3533 perimeters and 10,385,197 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 6 | 107,482 | |
| 1910s | 50 | 79,631 | |
| 1920s | 55 | 196,079 | |
| 1930s | 61 | 93,418 | |
| 1940s | 52 | 51,041 | |
| 1950s | 38 | 17,110 | |
| 1960s | 65 | 78,181 | |
| 1970s | 24 | 119,155 | |
| 1980s | 119 | 371,798 | |
| 1990s | 169 | 191,414 | |
| 2000s | 559 | 2,906,113 | |
| 2010s | 1,205 | 4,215,495 | |
| 2020s | 1,130 | 1,958,280 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 14,438 | |
| 2000s | 14,629 | |
| 2010s | 12,028 | |
| 2020s | 965 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 42,060 ignitions total.
653 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 5 | |
| 10-19 | 13 | |
| 20-29 | 71 | |
| 30-39 | 127 | |
| 40-49 | 170 | |
| 50-59 | 94 | |
| 60-69 | 52 | |
| 70-79 | 26 | |
| 80+ | 21 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.