In 2025, fire departments serving Fairland responded to 31 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Jan peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
160 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $523K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 30 | — | |
| 2022 | 45 | +50.0% | |
| 2023* | 17 | — | |
| 2024 | 37 | — | |
| 2025 | 31 | -16.2% |
* Well below Fairland'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 7 building fires Fairland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 52 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 | 13 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Function area, other | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 21.2% |
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 Fairland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 36.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 9 | 17.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 9.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fairland departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fairland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,996 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,549 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 450 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 156 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 74 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 47.0 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 Fairland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fairland.
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.