In 2025, fire departments serving Elkhart responded to 749 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $270K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,852 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $14.9M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 866 | — | |
| 2022 | 722 | -16.6% | |
| 2023 | 747 | +3.5% | |
| 2024 | 768 | +2.8% | |
| 2025 | 749 | -2.5% |
For the 109 building fires Elkhart departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,102 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 | 199 | 18.1% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 128 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 114 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 81 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 61 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Other | 52 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 43 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 37 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 28 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 27 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 332 | 30.1% |
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 Elkhart mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 532 | 48.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 66 | 6.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 64 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 64 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 50 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 38 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 36 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 35 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 26 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 26 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 165 | 15.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Elkhart departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 55% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $270,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $174,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $130,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $115,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Elkhart sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
66 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 12 | |
| 30-39 | 20 | |
| 40-49 | 13 | |
| 50-59 | 7 | |
| 60-69 | 6 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 5 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 206 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 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 12 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 43.9 mi |
Top 10 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 Elkhart. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Elkhart.
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.