In 2025, fire departments serving Hudson responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K 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 71% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
128 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $715K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 14 | — | |
| 2022 | 26 | — | |
| 2023 | 29 | +11.5% | |
| 2024 | 38 | +31.0% | |
| 2025 | 21 | -44.7% |
* Well below Hudson'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 5 building fires Hudson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 5 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Storage area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Structural area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Wall assembly | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Hudson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 73.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hudson departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hudson sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 17 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 488 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 154 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 35 | 11.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 23.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 22 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 48.6 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 | 46747 | 128 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Hudson. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hudson.
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.