In 2025, fire departments serving Monticello responded to 161 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,084 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 159 | — | |
| 2022 | 210 | +32.1% | |
| 2023 | 324 | +54.3% | |
| 2024 | 230 | -29.0% | |
| 2025 | 161 | -30.0% |
For the 25 building fires Monticello departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 423 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 | 160 | 37.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 40 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 39 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 34 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 22 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 11 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 9 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Other | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 78 | 18.4% |
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 Monticello mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 311 | 73.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 21 | 5.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 19 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 13 | 3.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 1.7% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 7 | 1.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 1.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 1.2% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 5 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 4 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 26 | 6.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Monticello departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $42,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $22,808 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $17,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $17,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $13,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Monticello sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 56,919 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,586 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,700 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,646 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,398 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,925 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,537 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,214 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,146 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,079 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,952 | 14.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,728 | 44.4 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Kentucky cities with population within ±25% of Monticello. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Monticello.
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.