In 2025, fire departments serving Greentown responded to 28 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 68% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
131 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $397K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 42 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 32 | — | |
| 2024 | 23 | -28.1% | |
| 2025 | 28 | +21.7% |
* Well below Greentown'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 10 building fires Greentown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 45 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 | 15 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 7 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 5 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 2.2% |
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 Greentown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 18 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 14 | 31.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Greentown departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Greentown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 3 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 45 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 20 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 47.6 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 Greentown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Greentown.
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.