In 2025, fire departments serving Gary responded to 852 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 54% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
5,179 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $7.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,248 | — | |
| 2022 | 909 | -27.2% | |
| 2023 | 1,095 | +20.5% | |
| 2024 | 1,075 | -1.8% | |
| 2025 | 852 | -20.7% |
For the 119 building fires Gary departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,246 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 | 541 | 43.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 120 | 9.6% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 65 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 47 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 45 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 36 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 36 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Other | 32 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 28 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 25 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 271 | 21.7% |
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 Gary mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 734 | 58.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 144 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 54 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 50 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 48 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 37 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 25 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 24 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 18 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 16 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 96 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gary departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 76% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gary sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,737 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 | 3.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 3.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 2.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 4.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 2.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 3.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 3.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 2.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 3.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 1.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 187 | 2.8 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 Gary. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Gary.
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.