In 2025, fire departments serving Hanover responded to 24 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 75% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
158 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $886K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 33 | — | |
| 2023 | 42 | +27.3% | |
| 2024 | 48 | +14.3% | |
| 2025 | 24 | -50.0% |
* Well below Hanover'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 Hanover departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 39 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 | 17.9% | |
| 2 | Function area, other | 5 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 12.8% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 4 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Service facilities, other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 15.4% |
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 Hanover mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 20.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 7 | 17.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 6 | 15.4% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hanover departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hanover sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,953 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 450 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 354 | 16.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 182 | 14.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 97 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 74 | 19.8 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 | 47243 | 158 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Hanover. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hanover.
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.