In 2025, fire departments serving Indiana responded to 123 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $151K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
777 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 170 | — | |
| 2022 | 143 | -15.9% | |
| 2023 | 167 | +16.8% | |
| 2024 | 174 | +4.2% | |
| 2025 | 123 | -29.3% |
For the 15 building fires Indiana departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 216 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 39 | 18.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 36 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 22 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 17 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 54 | 25.0% |
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 Indiana mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 77 | 35.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 24 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 19 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 13 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 12 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 28 | 13.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Indiana departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $151,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $28,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $6,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $4,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Indiana sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,717 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 297 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 295 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 260 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 17.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 173 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 160 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 152 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 14.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 90 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 76 | 34.8 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Pennsylvania cities with population within ±25% of Indiana. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Indiana.
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.