What question does Montag ask during the card game at the fire station in Fahrenheit 451, and how does it contribute to the plot?

During the first card game at the firehouse, Montag is already beginning to think about his job and his life, and how the world came to be the way it is. He asks Captain Beatty if "it was always like this". In other words, if firefighters had always started fires, if books had always been banned, etc. This is a direct result of Clarisse's influence, as her friendship has prompted Montag to question his world.

The other men are shocked when Montag asks this. They point to the established history, the one they were taught growing up, and which they have swallowed without doubt. They bring out their rulebooks and show Montag the code of the firefighter, and laugh at his audacity. To them, he's just a troublemaker. They're content with their lives, and they don't like anyone threatening that. Like Mildred, they're not willing to admit unhappiness or any kind of discontent. But Montag is different. It is this willingness to question authority that will lead Montag done the path to rebellion. Eventually, he will be forced to embrace his dissent and escape from the authoritarian society.

What does Montag ask during the card game at the station in Fahrenheit 451?

In Chapter One, "The Hearth and the Salamander," while playing cards at the fire station, Montag observes as though he has not before that the other men are "all mirror images of himself." He reflects upon the old man whose library the firemen burned and asks, "What happened to him?" Betty replies that the man was taken off to the asylum. In disbelief, Montag remarks that the man was not insane. 

Beatty arranged his cards quietly. "Any man's insane who thinks he can fool the government and us."
"I've tried to imagine," said Montag, "just how it would feel. I mean, to have firemen burn our houses and our books."
"We haven't any books."
"But if we did have some."

Then, Beatty pointedly asks Montag if he has any books; Montag replies that he does not, but he envision the old man in the park with whom he has spoken.

Montag hesitated. "What--was it always like this? The firehouse, our work? I mean, well, once upon a time..."

These questions are the ones that are significant as they clearly raise Beatty's suspicions. Bradbury signals to the reader that Montag is in dangerous territory as he writes that Montag opens his mouth and

...it was Clarisse McClellan saying "Didn't firemen prevent fires rather than stoke them up and get them going?"

At this point, Stoneman and Black bring out their rule books that contain the history of the Firemen of America and the men all watch Montag. Clearly, their suspicions about Montag's devotion to his job have been raised. 

Montag asks some questions that grow suspicion among his peers. Montag asked what happened to the man whose library they burned last week. He then wonders how it would feel to be hunted by firemen like them. He wonders how it would feel to have a house and books burned. Next he asks:

Was-was it always like this? The firehouse, our work? I mean, well, once upon a time...

This may not have been the brightest set of questions to ask because the men begin to wonder about him Then he says:

Didn't firemen prevent fires rather than stoke them up and get them going?

This puts him in a bad situation and he doesn't realize it until the question is out of his mouth. He was only expressing legitimate curiosity after a discussion with Clarisse. He was being human and talking about his thoughts. What he should have done was guard his thoughts considering the company he was keeping. The men wonder why he wanted to know this and quickly quote the code of firemen as they know it.

Influenced and encouraged by his discussions with Clarisse, Montag asks Beatty what happened to the man “whose library we fixed.” (pg 33)  Beatty tells him that he was taken off screaming to an insane asylum.  When Montag remarks that the man wasn’t insane, Beatty tells him that, “Any man’s insane who thinks he can fool the government and us.” (pg 33)   He also asks if firemen always had the job of burning books the way that they do now. “Didn’t firemen prevent fires rather than stoke them up and get them going?” (pg 34).  The other firemen show him a section of their history book that said the Firemen of America organization was established in 1790 for the purpose of burning English-influenced books in the Colonies.  It gave the name of the first fireman as Benjamin Franklin.  

The page numbers may be different in your edition of the book, but you will find the answer in the general vicinity of the pages listed.

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