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2025 County Report

Fires in Montgomery County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Montgomery County responded to 76 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $50K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

6,450 residents FIPS 29139 19 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
76
342 across 5 years
Building fires
6
18 wildland
Property loss
$605K
$255K structure · $351K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Fire, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.

76
Total Incidents
Fire, other 10 13.2%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 7 9.2%
Power line down 7 9.2%
Building fires 6 7.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 6 7.9%
All other categories 40 52.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Montgomery County?

Mar peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 7
Feb 7
Mar 18
Apr 4
May 4
Jun 1
Jul 5
Aug 2
Sep 14
Oct 8
Nov 5
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Montgomery County

342 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 40
2022 61
2023 54
2024 111
2025 76
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 6 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
19%
5
Cause undetermined
33%
9
Intentional / arson
11%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
33%
9
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $255K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Montgomery County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $50,000 Middletown Fire, other Significant
2 $50,000 middletown Fire, other Significant
3 $50,000 middletown Fire, other Significant
4 $50,000 middletown Fire, other Significant
5 $30,000 New Florence Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $10,000 Jonesburg Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
7 $10,000 BELLFLOWER Building fires Significant
8 $3,500 HIGH HILL Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $1,000 HIGH HILL Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
10 $200 JONESBURG Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Montgomery County compares

Montgomery County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.78
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Montgomery County
11.78
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
0.93
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Montgomery County
0.93
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Montgomery County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Montgomery County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29139.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Montgomery County

7 departments report from this county.

New Florence Fire Prot Dist
New Florence
FDID 07009 28 incidents 17 vol
Middletown Comm Fire Prot Dist
Middletown
FDID 07007 12 incidents
Bellflower Fire Prot Dist
—
FDID 07001 0 incidents
Wellsville Fire Prot Dist
—
FDID 07002 0 incidents
Big Spring Fire Prot Dist
Big Spring
FDID 07005 0 incidents 22 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in MO

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Minninghaw 2011 USFS 4,762
2 Mud Pond 2011 USFS 3,520
3 Willie 2020 USFS 2,472
4 23 Thorny Creek BIL RX 2023 NPS 2,223
5 Carty 2015 USFS 2,145
6 Swan Creek 2019 USFS 2,119
7 Rozell 2018 USFS 2,102
8 Devreaux 2023 USFS 2,028
9 Liberty 2012 USFS 1,623
10 Sugar 2024 USFS 1,611

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.