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2025 County Report

Fires in Montague County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Montague County responded to 119 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $700K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

11,002 residents FIPS 48337 17 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
119
1,059 across 5 years
Building fires
19
38 wildland
Property loss
$2.3M
$1.6M structure · $688K contents
Casualties
1 / 5
1 civ deaths · 5 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.

119
Total Incidents
Grass fire 35 29.4%
Building fires 19 16.0%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 10 8.4%
Authorized controlled burning 8 6.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 7 5.9%
All other categories 40 33.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Montague County?

Mar peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 8
Feb 4
Mar 18
Apr 10
May 7
Jun 5
Jul 9
Aug 14
Sep 9
Oct 11
Nov 13
Dec 11
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Montague County

1,059 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 235
2022 260
2023 273
2024 172
2025 119
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 19 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
32%
17
Cause undetermined
42%
22
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
23%
12
Under investigation
2%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Montague County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $700,000 Nocona Building fires Major
2 $300,000 Nocona Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
3 $145,360 Nocona Building fires Significant
4 $100,930 Nocona Building fires Significant
5 $86,150 Nocona Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 Nocona Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 Nocona Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $50,000 Nocona Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $35,000 Nocona Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $25,000 Nocona Building fires Significant
06 How Montague County compares

Montague County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.82
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Montague County
10.82
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
1.73
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Montague County
1.73
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
90.9
Civilian fire deaths per million
Montague County
90.9
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Montague County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 48337.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Montague County

13 departments report from this county.

Nocona Rural FD
Nocona
FDID RZ601 71 incidents 40 vol
Nocona FD
Nocona
FDID RZ405 39 incidents 25 vol
Ringgold VFD
Ringgold
FDID RZ206 2 incidents
Forestburg FD
Forestburg
FDID RZ202 0 incidents 25 vol
Montague FD
Montague
FDID RZ304 0 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in TX

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Smokehouse Creek 2024 SF 1,054,154
2 Rock House 2011 NPS 314,377
3 Potter#1FP (Fain Plant) 2006 NPS 22,040
4 Cane 2017 NPS 14,240
5 WF HOLIDAY 1 & 2 2012 FWS 14,181
6 PAIS Front Country S. FY20 RX (ADD-ON) 2020 NPS 13,339
7 Laguna 24 2024 NPS 12,385
8 CUTOFF 2010 NPS 10,280
9 WF Unit 1 1/2 2015 FWS 7,657
10 Big Canyon 1990 NPS 7,432

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.