Are All The Recent Fires In Bismarck-Mandan Accidental?

This weekend, my fiancé and I did a little grocery shopping in North Bismarck. After we got groceries, we were at a stop light outside of the store, when I noticed black smoke to the East of us. I wondered, "Can that really be another fire in Bismarck?" Well, we decided to grab a Starbucks and go investigate, but by the time we got coffee, the smoke seemed to be gone.

No more than 30 minutes later, I saw a Facebook post asking what was on fire in Northeast Bismarck. A little while after that, I saw a news story that an entire combine had been engulfed in flames and destroyed. So, it was yet another accidental fire in town.

Does anyone know what is going on with these accidental fires in Bismarck and Mandan as of late? Like, do we need to worry about a pyromaniac in town or something?

Check out some stories about fires in Bismarck and Mandan in the recent past:

BISMARCK

• September 6, 2020 - Grass Fire Burns 10 Acres
• September 13, 2020 - House Fire in Downstairs Apartment
• September 26, 2020 - Fire Destroys Shed
• September 30, 2020 - Landfill Fire
• October 4, 2020 - Combine Destroyed in Fire

MANDAN

• August 10, 2020 - Sunset Bluffs Apartments on Fire (SECOND fire at this complex in just over a year)
• September 2, 2020 - Lewis and Clark Apartments on Fire
• September 20, 2020 - Shed at Kist Livestock Auction Destroyed by Fire
• October 4, 2020 - Two Separate House Fires 

Does this not seem like a crazy amount of accidental fires in a short span of time? These fires have been or are being investigated, but we must be having an insanely dry season if all of them are spontaneous.

Something I should point out is, while looking up the different fire stories in town, I stumbled across a story out of Minot - last week, crews responded to TWO SEPARATE COMBINE FIRES. KFYR-TV has that story.

Do you wonder why all these fires are happening lately?