In 2025, fire departments serving Elwood responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Elwood's departments reported 34 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 103 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Jan peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
513 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 118 | — | |
| 2022* | 25 | — | |
| 2023 | 156 | — | |
| 2024 | 180 | +15.4% | |
| 2025* | 34 | — |
* Well below Elwood'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 10 building fires Elwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 117 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 | 32 | 27.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 26 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 17 | 14.5% |
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 Elwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 40 | 34.2% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 15 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 11 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 7 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Match | 6 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 12.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Elwood departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $400 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Elwood sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 2 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 30 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 20 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 49.6 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 | 46036 | 513 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Elwood. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Elwood.
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.