In 2025, fire departments serving Francesville responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
72 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $36K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | — | |
| 2023 | 18 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 18 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 10 | -44.4% |
* Well below Francesville'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 Francesville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | 7 | 41.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Francesville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 64.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Francesville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,503 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 187 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 182 | 46.8 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 | 47946 | 72 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Francesville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Francesville.
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.