In 2025, fire departments serving Dunkirk responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Natural vegetation fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
90 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $21K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 3 | — | |
| 2023 | 33 | — | |
| 2024 | 33 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 20 | -39.4% |
* Well below Dunkirk'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 1 building fires Dunkirk departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 25 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 9 | 36.0% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 4.0% |
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 Dunkirk mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 52.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dunkirk departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Cultivated vegetation, crop fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dunkirk sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 3 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 80 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 20 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 26.3 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 Dunkirk. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dunkirk.
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.