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In 2025, fire departments serving Montrose responded to 348 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 53% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,434 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $10.6M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 265 | — | |
| 2022 | 327 | +23.4% | |
| 2023 | 235 | -28.1% | |
| 2024 | 259 | +10.2% | |
| 2025 | 348 | +34.4% |
For the 14 building fires Montrose departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 403 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 | 80 | 19.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 53 | 13.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 50 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 44 | 10.9% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 16 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 12 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 9 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 111 | 27.5% |
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 Montrose mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 174 | 43.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 41 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 23 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 18 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 14 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 9 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 68 | 16.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Montrose departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 87% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Aircraft fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Montrose sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
17 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 105,941 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Natural | 36,520 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 30,292 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 4,187 | 40.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 3,848 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 2,806 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,608 | 30.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 2,607 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 2,599 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 2,244 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 2,009 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 1,587 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 1,486 | 35.6 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Montrose. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Montrose.
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.