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2025 County Report

Fires in Montgomery County, AR

In 2025, fire departments serving Montgomery County responded to 45 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $750K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

2,315 residents FIPS 05097 28 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
45
334 across 5 years
Building fires
11
7 wildland
Property loss
$3.2M
$2.6M structure · $555K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

45
Total Incidents
Building fires 11 24.4%
Fire, other 4 8.9%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 4 8.9%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 4 8.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 3 6.7%
All other categories 19 42.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Montgomery County?

Feb peaks. May dips.

Jan 3
Feb 7
Mar 5
Apr 6
May 1
Jun 5
Jul 5
Aug 5
Sep 4
Oct 2
Nov 1
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Montgomery County

334 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 51
2022 116
2023 58
2024 64
2025 45
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 11 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
5%
1
Cause undetermined
52%
11
Intentional / arson
24%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
14%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Montgomery County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 99% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $750,000 Mt Ida Building fires Major
2 $450,000 Norman Building fires Major
3 $450,000 Norman Building fires Major
4 $450,000 Norman Building fires Major
5 $120,000 Mt Ida Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Norman Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Mt Ida Building fires Significant
8 $75,000 Caddo Gap Building fires Significant
9 $75,000 Norman Building fires Significant
10 $40,000 Caddo Gap Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Montgomery County compares

Montgomery County vs AR vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

19.44
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Montgomery County
19.44
AR avg
11.92
US avg
7.15
4.75
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Montgomery County
4.75
AR avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Montgomery County
0
AR avg
16.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Montgomery County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 05097.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Montgomery County

8 departments report from this county.

NORMAN VOL
norman
FDID 49002 21 incidents 15 vol
CADDO GAP VOL
Caddo Gap
FDID 49010 12 incidents 12 vol
JOPLIN RURAL
—
FDID 49000 7 incidents 25 vol
MOUNT IDA
—
FDID 49001 0 incidents
PINE RIDGE VOL
—
FDID 49004 0 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in AR

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 No Mans Land 2006 USFS 8,403
2 Sulphur Mountain 2006 USFS 4,475
3 Big Point 2016 USFS 3,993
4 Pipeline 2016 USFS 3,286
5 21 Lick Creek 2021 NPS 3,250
6 20 Cave Creek 2020 NPS 2,939
7 Walker 2024 USFS 1,844
8 Flat Rock 2001 NPS 1,484
9 Slick Rock Hollow 2013 NPS 1,211
10 ABOUT TIME 1996 NPS 1,073

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.