In 2025, fire departments serving Bristol responded to 83 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
221 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 23 | — | |
| 2022* | 19 | — | |
| 2023 | 35 | — | |
| 2024 | 61 | +74.3% | |
| 2025 | 83 | +36.1% |
* Well below Bristol'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 14 building fires Bristol departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 81 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 | 31 | 38.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 11 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Other | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Shipping/receiving area; loading area, dock or bay | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Machinery room or area; elevator machinery room | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 17.3% |
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 Bristol mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 64 | 79.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 1.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bristol departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bristol sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 10 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 335 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 154 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Fireworks | 40 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 35 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 22 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 11.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 12 | 5.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 44.9 mi |
Top 6 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 Bristol. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.