In 2025, fire departments serving Montgomery responded to 37 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. 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 78% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
93 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 24 | +50.0% | |
| 2023* | 9 | — | |
| 2024* | 7 | — | |
| 2025 | 37 | — |
* 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 6 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 23 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 | 9 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Storage area, other | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 4.3% |
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 | 19 | 82.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Montgomery departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $70,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $38,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $38,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment 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. 7,092 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,909 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 13.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 9.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 144 | 24.1 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 | 56069 | 93 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Montgomery. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.