In 2025, fire departments serving Elberfeld responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
37 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $185K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022* | 3 | — | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | 13 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | +23.1% |
* Well below Elberfeld'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 Elberfeld departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | Other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 1 | 12.5% |
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 Elberfeld mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 12.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Elberfeld sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,441 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 716 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 418 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 365 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 356 | 13.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 110 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 98 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 80 | 16.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 31.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 41.3 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 | 47613 | 37 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Elberfeld. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Elberfeld.
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.