In 2025, fire departments serving Beech Grove responded to 57 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
304 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 78 | — | |
| 2022* | 24 | — | |
| 2023 | 84 | — | |
| 2024 | 61 | -27.4% | |
| 2025 | 57 | -6.6% |
* Well below Beech Grove's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 2 building fires Beech Grove departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 90 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 22 | 24.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 9 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 17.8% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Beech Grove mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 49 | 54.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Match | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Beech Grove departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $70,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $26,250 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Beech Grove sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
10 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 21 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,256 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,549 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 156 | 30.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 47 | 47.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 37 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 46.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 27 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 23 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 22 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 20 | 49.6 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Beech Grove. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Beech Grove.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.