In 2025, fire departments serving Hillsboro responded to 20 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 75% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
71 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $90K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 16 | — | |
| 2024 | 12 | -25.0% | |
| 2025 | 20 | +66.7% |
* Well below Hillsboro'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 Hillsboro 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Chute; laundry or mail, excluding trash chutes | 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 Hillsboro mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hillsboro departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hillsboro sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 11 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 495 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 15 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 10 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 22.2 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 Hillsboro. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hillsboro.
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.