In 2025, fire departments serving Montezuma responded to 40 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Montezuma's departments reported 40 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 80 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
May peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
401 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 81 | — | |
| 2022 | 127 | +56.8% | |
| 2023 | 99 | -22.0% | |
| 2024 | 54 | -45.5% | |
| 2025* | 40 | — |
* Well below Montezuma's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 11 building fires Montezuma departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 76 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 | Undetermined | 25 | 32.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 19.7% |
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 Montezuma mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 38 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 6 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 5.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Montezuma sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,115 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 522 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 412 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 356 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 348 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 262 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 256 | 30.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 246 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 235 | 37.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 232 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 224 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 214 | 38.6 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 | 31063 | 401 |
Six Georgia cities with population within ±25% of Montezuma. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Montezuma.
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.