In 2025, fire departments serving Montauk responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 75% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
217 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 30 | — | |
| 2022 | 58 | +93.3% | |
| 2023 | 36 | -37.9% | |
| 2024 | 45 | +25.0% | |
| 2025 | 48 | +6.7% |
For the 1 building fires Montauk departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2 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 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 100.0% |
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 Montauk mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 1 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 50.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Montauk sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,679 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,050 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 992 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 361 | 46.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 152 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 94 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 40.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 75 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 59 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 55 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 40.4 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11954 | 217 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Montauk. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Montauk.
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.