In 2025, fire departments serving Montpelier responded to 30 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 73% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
211 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $937K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 50 | — | |
| 2022 | 28 | -44.0% | |
| 2023 | 46 | +64.3% | |
| 2024 | 57 | +23.9% | |
| 2025 | 30 | -47.4% |
For the 10 building fires Montpelier departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 55 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 | 12 | 21.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Function area, other | 4 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 27.3% |
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 Montpelier mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 4 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Montpelier departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Montpelier sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 729 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 154 | 28.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 35 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 22 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 22 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 42.6 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Ohio cities with population within ±25% of Montpelier. 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.