In 2025, fire departments serving Hope responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
58 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $50K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | +20.0% | |
| 2023 | 9 | -25.0% | |
| 2024 | 13 | +44.4% | |
| 2025 | 14 | +7.7% |
For the 2 building fires Hope departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2 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 | Storage area, other | 1 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 50.0% |
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 Hope mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 1 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 50.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hope sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,199 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,549 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 450 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 182 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 156 | 16.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 74 | 27.9 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 | 47246 | 58 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Hope. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hope.
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.