In 2025, fire departments serving Granger responded to 134 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 67% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
577 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $6.5M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 128 | — | |
| 2022 | 108 | -15.6% | |
| 2023 | 87 | -19.4% | |
| 2024 | 120 | +37.9% | |
| 2025 | 134 | +11.7% |
For the 23 building fires Granger departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 123 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 13.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 15 | 12.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 10 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Other | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 34 | 27.6% |
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 Granger mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 47 | 38.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 11 | 8.9% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Match | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 19 | 15.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Granger departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Granger sits below 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 9 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 175 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 47 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 25 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 48.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 16 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 12 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 39.0 mi |
Top 6 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 Granger. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.