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 Montana responded to 5,783 fire and hazmat incidents — including the Lodgepole Complex wildfire that burned 271,421 acres in 2017.
Montana ranks #9 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 51% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Nov dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Jul peaks across the window; Feb dips.
34,295 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 8,060 | |
| 2022 | 7,387 | |
| 2023 | 6,657 | |
| 2024 | 6,408 | |
| 2025 | 5,783 |
For the 479 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) | 21,777 | 21,452 / 325 | 6,581,152 | |
| 2 | Undetermined / missing | 11,296 | 9,011 / 2,285 | 571,475 | |
| 3 | Recreation & ceremony | 5,321 | 5,321 / 0 | 120,199 | |
| 4 | Debris & open burning | 5,104 | 5,104 / 0 | 207,636 | |
| 5 | Equipment & vehicle use | 3,624 | 2,724 / 900 | 405,566 | |
| 6 | Arson / incendiarism | 3,183 | 2,020 / 1,163 | 152,167 | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 2,166 | 2,166 / 0 | 18,945 | |
| 8 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,234 | 1,234 / 0 | 14,067 | |
| 9 | Smoking | 1,028 | 1,028 / 0 | 32,416 | |
| 10 | Railroad operations | 814 | 814 / 0 | 29,762 | |
| 11 | Power generation / utility | 796 | 796 / 0 | 56,050 | |
| 12 | Other causes | 419 | 237 / 182 | 3,761 |
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 | 9,021 | $10.9M | 2 | |
| 2 | Gas leaks | 7,579 | $61K | 0 | |
| 3 | Wildland fires | 6,440 | $10.8M | 2 | |
| 4 | Building fires | 5,347 | $131.5M | 32 | |
| 5 | Electrical / wiring | 4,703 | $153K | 0 | |
| 6 | Vehicle fires | 2,004 | $15.4M | 12 | |
| 7 | Rubbish / refuse | 1,894 | $182K | 0 | |
| 8 | Cooking-related | 903 | $86K | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 631 | $9.8M | 0 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 33% of Montana's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,300,000 | BOZEMAN | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $1,200,000 | Laurel | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $1,200,000 | Laurel | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $1,100,000 | BOZEMAN | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $1,000,000 | BOZEMAN | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $1,000,000 | BOZEMAN | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $1,000,000 | CIRCLE | Fire, other | Major |
| 8 | $1,000,000 | Libby | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $940,000 | BILLINGS | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $831,000 | Polson | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare Montana 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 | Gallatin County | 1,153 | 83,858 |
| 2 | Yellowstone County | 1,107 | 134,195 |
| 3 | Flathead County | 575 | 62,156 |
| 4 | Silver Bow County | 383 | 35,306 |
| 5 | Missoula County | 299 | 95,518 |
| 6 | Cascade County | 265 | 71,025 |
| 7 | Ravalli County | 260 | 11,902 |
| 8 | Lewis and Clark County | 194 | 65,004 |
| 9 | Lake County | 143 | 15,027 |
| 10 | Park County | 124 | 12,169 |
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 | Gallatin County | 13.75 | 1,153 | 83,858 | |
| 2 | Flathead County | 9.25 | 575 | 62,156 | |
| 3 | Yellowstone County | 8.25 | 1,107 | 134,195 | |
| 4 | Cascade County | 3.73 | 265 | 71,025 | |
| 5 | Missoula County | 3.13 | 299 | 95,518 | |
| 6 | Lewis and Clark County | 2.98 | 194 | 65,004 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lodgepole Complex | 2017 | BLM | 271,420 |
| 2 | Derby | 2006 | USFS | 207,237 |
| 3 | Rice Ridge | 2017 | USFS | 160,001 |
| 4 | Pine Ridge Complex | 2006 | BLM | 114,655 |
| 5 | Dunn Mountain | 2008 | BLM | 102,324 |
| 6 | SartinDraw | 2017 | USFS | 99,713 |
| 7 | TaylorCreek | 2012 | USFS | 62,148 |
| 8 | Trail Creek | 2021 | USFS | 62,012 |
| 9 | Stag | 2000 | USFS | 61,727 |
| 10 | StormCreek | 1988 | USFS | 58,721 |
2330 perimeters and 3,789,955 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1940s | 1 | 755 | |
| 1970s | 4 | 152 | |
| 1980s | 56 | 252,493 | |
| 1990s | 112 | 86,218 | |
| 2000s | 211 | 1,022,445 | |
| 2010s | 1,002 | 1,627,136 | |
| 2020s | 944 | 800,756 |
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 | 13,394 | |
| 2000s | 18,749 | |
| 2010s | 17,132 | |
| 2020s | 2,685 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 51,960 ignitions total.
177 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 | 5 | |
| 20-29 | 17 | |
| 30-39 | 42 | |
| 40-49 | 39 | |
| 50-59 | 17 | |
| 60-69 | 19 | |
| 70-79 | 16 | |
| 80+ | 10 |
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.