FBI arson data · 2024
Montana Arson
175 arson offenses were reported by 153 Montana law-enforcement agencies in 2024 — 0.5% of the national total. The most was reported by Billings Police Department (37).
Montana agencies with the most reported arson
| Agency | Type | County | Arsons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billings Police Department | City | Yellowstone County | 37 |
| Missoula Police Department | City | Missoula County | 21 |
| Great Falls Police Department | City | Cascade County | 15 |
| Bozeman Police Department | City | Gallatin County | 13 |
| Silver Bow County Sheriff's Office | County | Silver Bow County | 8 |
| Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office | County | Yellowstone County | 8 |
| Flathead County Sheriff's Office | County | Flathead County | 7 |
| Havre Police Department | City | Hill County | 5 |
| Cascade County Sheriff's Office | County | Cascade County | 4 |
| Kalispell Police Department | City | Flathead County | 4 |
| Missoula County Sheriff's Office | County | Missoula County | 4 |
| Hill County Sheriff's Office | County | Hill County | 3 |
| Polson Police Department | City | Lake County | 3 |
| Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office | County | Lewis and Clark County | 3 |
| Helena Police Department | City | Lewis and Clark County | 3 |
| Lincoln County Sheriff's Office | County | Lincoln County | 3 |
| Broadwater County Sheriff's Office | County | Broadwater County | 2 |
| Lewistown Police Department | City | Fergus County | 2 |
| Columbia Falls Police Department | City | Flathead County | 2 |
| Jefferson County Sheriff's Office | County | Jefferson County | 2 |
| Lake County Sheriff's Office | County | Lake County | 2 |
| Musselshell County Sheriff's Office | County | Musselshell County | 2 |
| Livingston Police Department | City | Park County | 2 |
| Phillips County Sheriff's Office | County | Phillips County | 2 |
| Hamilton Police Department | City | Ravalli County | 2 |
Montana arson by county
By the reporting agency's headquarters county — multi-jurisdiction agencies land in one county. Counties with no reported arson are not listed.
About this data
- Counts are arson offenses (fires), not arrests. Each figure is a fire that a law-enforcement agency determined or suspected was intentionally set. Arson arrests are a different, much smaller number — most arsons are never cleared — and are tracked separately in our Arrests dataset.
- The figures are de-duplicated across the FBI's two overlapping reporting streams — the legacy SRS summary system and NIBRS incident data. Most agencies appear in both, so naively summing the two streams, as some published totals do, roughly doubles the count. Each agency here is counted once, from its best available stream.
- Reported agencies only. The total covers agencies in the FBI's 2024 master files — about 96% of the FBI's own de-duplicated figure of 36,558, which comes from its live database and includes some later-arriving reports. Nothing here is estimated, so totals slightly undercount and are not strictly comparable across areas with different reporting coverage.
- Location is the reporting agency's headquarters county, not where the fire happened. Multi-jurisdiction agencies concentrate in one county — every NYPD-reported arson lands in New York County, for example — and county figures cover geolocated agencies only, so they sum to slightly less than the national total.
- Zero and missing mean different things. A zero means agencies in that county reported to the FBI and logged no arson; a county with no figure at all had no reporting agency headquartered there.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, 2024 SRS and NIBRS files, de-duplicated by agency. pumsdata is independent and not affiliated with the FBI. How our data works.
Montana arson — FAQ
How many arsons were reported in Montana in 2024?+
175 arson offenses were reported to the FBI by 153 Montana law-enforcement agencies in 2024; 38 of those agencies logged at least one arson. Actual arsons are somewhat higher, since not every agency reports.
Which agency reported the most arson in Montana?+
Billings Police Department, with 37 reported arson offenses in 2024 (headquartered in Yellowstone County).
What share of U.S. arson happens in Montana?+
Montana's 175 reported arsons were 0.5% of the 34,990 reported nationwide in 2024. Reporting coverage varies by state, so shares are approximate.
Where does this data come from?+
The FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program's 2024 SRS and NIBRS files, de-duplicated by agency. Counts are arson offenses (fires), not arrests, from reporting agencies only. pumsdata is independent and not affiliated with the FBI.