In 2025, fire departments serving Montgomery responded to 259 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
897 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $4.2M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 161 | — | |
| 2022 | 130 | -19.3% | |
| 2023 | 172 | +32.3% | |
| 2024 | 175 | +1.7% | |
| 2025 | 259 | +48.0% |
For the 35 building fires Montgomery departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 217 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 31 | 14.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 31 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 18 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 62 | 28.6% |
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 Montgomery mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 95 | 43.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 17 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 10 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Match | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 33 | 15.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Montgomery departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Montgomery sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,473 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 67 | 26.6 mi |
Top 7 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Montgomery. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Montgomery.
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.