In 2025, fire departments serving Montgomery responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
98 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 34 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | -38.2% | |
| 2024 | 20 | -4.8% | |
| 2025 | 13 | -35.0% |
* Well below Montgomery'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 3 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 19 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 | 7 | 36.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.3% |
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 | 9 | 47.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 10.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Montgomery departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Montgomery sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,030 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 716 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 418 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 365 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 356 | 31.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 157 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 80 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 37.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 24.9 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 | 47558 | 98 |
Six Indiana 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.