In 2025, fire departments serving Evansville responded to 1,816 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 59% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
8,311 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $17.8M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,169 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,643 | +40.5% | |
| 2023 | 1,748 | +6.4% | |
| 2024 | 1,935 | +10.7% | |
| 2025 | 1,816 | -6.1% |
For the 140 building fires Evansville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,669 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 | Outside area, other | 240 | 14.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 225 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 219 | 13.1% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 177 | 10.6% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 100 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 93 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 59 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Other | 54 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 43 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 38 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 421 | 25.2% |
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 Evansville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 717 | 43.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 115 | 6.9% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 89 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 88 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 88 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 82 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 78 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 47 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 47 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 47 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 271 | 16.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Evansville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 51% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $999,999 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $262,400 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $226,800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Evansville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
22 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,964 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 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 418 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 365 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 356 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 47.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 180 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 177 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 176 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 175 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 165 | 49.4 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 Evansville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Evansville.
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.