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 South Dakota responded to 4,048 fire and hazmat incidents — including the Jasper wildfire that burned 82,295 acres in 2000.
South Dakota ranks #17 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 43% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Jul peaks across the window; Jan dips.
23,125 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5,575 | |
| 2022 | 5,534 | |
| 2023 | 4,013 | |
| 2024 | 3,955 | |
| 2025 | 4,048 |
For the 510 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 | Undetermined / missing | 8,597 | 6,692 / 1,905 | 310,957 | |
| 2 | Natural (lightning) | 6,949 | 6,707 / 242 | 641,950 | |
| 3 | Debris & open burning | 6,508 | 6,508 / 0 | 199,123 | |
| 4 | Equipment & vehicle use | 5,207 | 4,471 / 736 | 203,513 | |
| 5 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 4,227 | 4,227 / 0 | 55,844 | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 3,000 | 3,000 / 0 | 49,068 | |
| 7 | Arson / incendiarism | 2,108 | 1,430 / 678 | 112,874 | |
| 8 | Other causes | 1,184 | 1,048 / 136 | 16,619 | |
| 9 | Recreation & ceremony | 936 | 936 / 0 | 6,207 | |
| 10 | Smoking | 610 | 610 / 0 | 21,677 | |
| 11 | Power generation / utility | 549 | 549 / 0 | 153,256 | |
| 12 | Railroad operations | 199 | 199 / 0 | 13,183 |
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 | 5,908 | $7.4M | 4 | |
| 2 | Building fires | 4,522 | $156.7M | 21 | |
| 3 | Wildland fires | 4,228 | $7.2M | 3 | |
| 4 | Gas leaks | 3,793 | $119K | 0 | |
| 5 | Vehicle fires | 1,982 | $19.6M | 10 | |
| 6 | Electrical / wiring | 1,838 | $324K | 0 | |
| 7 | Arson | 1,397 | $1.7M | 0 | |
| 8 | Rubbish / refuse | 1,196 | $172K | 1 | |
| 9 | Cooking-related | 525 | $56K | 0 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 47% of South Dakota's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,500,000 | Iroquois | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $3,000,000 | SIOUX FALLS | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $1,500,000 | DAKOTA DUNES | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $1,267,067 | SIOUX FALLS | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $798,636 | SIOUX FALLS | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $750,000 | SIOUX FALLS | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major |
| 7 | $500,000 | Spearfish | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $500,000 | Arlington | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $400,000 | Huron | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $350,000 | De Smet | Outside equipment fire | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare South Dakota 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 | Minnehaha County | 1,202 | 219,961 |
| 2 | Pennington County | 827 | 102,844 |
| 3 | Brown County | 204 | 32,005 |
| 4 | Todd County | 181 | 6,286 |
| 5 | Davison County | 166 | 16,408 |
| 6 | Lawrence County | 147 | 20,662 |
| 7 | Lincoln County | 128 | 20,852 |
| 8 | Meade County | 117 | 15,903 |
| 9 | Yankton County | 110 | 16,424 |
| 10 | Union County | 109 | 13,349 |
Top 2 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pennington County | 8.04 | 827 | 102,844 | |
| 2 | Minnehaha County | 5.46 | 1,202 | 219,961 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jasper | 2000 | NPS | 82,295 |
| 2 | Cottonwood CA | 2016 | USFS | 41,370 |
| 3 | Power Dam Road | 2024 | BIA | 15,319 |
| 4 | INDIAN CANYON | 2016 | USFS | 14,297 |
| 5 | Casino | 2022 | BIA | 12,636 |
| 6 | Myrtle | 2012 | NPS | 9,944 |
| 7 | Turkey Day | 2022 | BIA | 5,945 |
| 8 | Cold Brook WF | 2015 | NPS | 5,444 |
| 9 | SHIRTTAIL | 1991 | NPS | 3,750 |
| 10 | BENT RIM | 2020 | BIA | 3,625 |
806 perimeters and 259,293 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 1 | 77 | |
| 1940s | 1 | 0 | |
| 1960s | 17 | 1,588 | |
| 1970s | 20 | 566 | |
| 1980s | 40 | 1,235 | |
| 1990s | 30 | 5,020 | |
| 2000s | 81 | 87,329 | |
| 2010s | 138 | 86,424 | |
| 2020s | 478 | 77,054 |
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 | 6,210 | |
| 2000s | 16,886 | |
| 2010s | 12,019 | |
| 2020s | 1,274 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 36,389 ignitions total.
269 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 | 4 | |
| 10-19 | 9 | |
| 20-29 | 68 | |
| 30-39 | 53 | |
| 40-49 | 47 | |
| 50-59 | 34 | |
| 60-69 | 21 | |
| 70-79 | 17 | |
| 80+ | 7 |
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.