In 2025, fire departments serving Butler responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 95% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
132 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 24 | — | |
| 2022 | 24 | +0.0% | |
| 2023 | 19 | -20.8% | |
| 2024 | 45 | +136.8% | |
| 2025 | 20 | -55.6% |
For the 14 building fires Butler departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 7 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 | 3 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 14.3% |
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 Butler mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 4 | 57.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 14.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Butler sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 20 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 565 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 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 35 | 8.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 22 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 7.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 39.1 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 46721 | 132 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Butler. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Butler.
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.