In 2025, fire departments serving Dillsboro responded to 21 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 52% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
117 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $845K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | +0.0% | |
| 2023* | 13 | — | |
| 2024 | 37 | — | |
| 2025 | 21 | -43.2% |
* Well below Dillsboro'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 5 building fires Dillsboro departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 23 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 26.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Roof surface: exterior | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 8.7% |
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 Dillsboro mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 52.2% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dillsboro sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,828 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 450 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 354 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 19.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 182 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 97 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 74 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 20.0 mi |
Top 2 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 Dillsboro. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dillsboro.
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.