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2025 County Report

Fires in Montgomery County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Montgomery County responded to 129 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

8,982 residents FIPS 37123 27 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
129
1,188 across 5 years
Building fires
5
27 wildland
Property loss
$943K
$684K structure · $260K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.

129
Total Incidents
Hazardous condition, other 29 22.5%
Grass fire 18 14.0%
Fire, other 16 12.4%
Authorized controlled burning 16 12.4%
Aircraft standby 10 7.8%
All other categories 40 31.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Montgomery County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 8
Feb 12
Mar 22
Apr 9
May 6
Jun 19
Jul 10
Aug 16
Sep 4
Oct 11
Nov 8
Dec 4
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Montgomery County

1,188 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 211
2022 331
2023 278
2024 239
2025 129
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 5 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
36%
19
Cause undetermined
47%
25
Intentional / arson
4%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
5
Under investigation
4%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $684K 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 $250,000 TROY Passenger vehicle fire Major
2 $215,000 CANDOR Fire, other Significant
3 $150,000 MT GILEAD Fire, other Significant
4 $40,000 TROY Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $15,000 TROY Fire, other Significant
6 $5,000 Candor Self-propelled motor home or recreational vehicle Significant
7 $5,000 Candor Building fires Significant
8 $2,500 TROY Fire, other Significant
9 $1,000 TROY Fire, other Significant
10 $50 BISCOE Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
06 How Montgomery County compares

Montgomery County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.36
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Montgomery County
14.36
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
0.56
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Montgomery County
0.56
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Montgomery County
0
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Montgomery County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37123.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Montgomery County

1 departments report from this county.

Biscoe Fire Department
Biscoe
FDID 06203 0 incidents 28 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in NC

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 GREAT LAKES 2023 USFS 32,155
2 Whipping Creek Road 2016 PRI 15,456
3 COLLETT RIDGE 2023 USFS 5,506
4 St Mary's 2008 NPS 4,565
5 Carolina Bay 2009 USFS 2,659
6 Big Ditch 2021 FWS 1,486
7 HANCOCK CREEK 2022 USFS 1,177
8 BUCK MTN 2002 NPS 1,124
9 NCMCR-FY19-RX-1.1.2.b 2019 FWS 1,080
10 VAF220152 2022 NPS 1,079

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.