In 2025, fire departments serving Ingalls responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 73% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
61 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $201K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 19 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | -52.6% | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | 17 | — | |
| 2025 | 15 | -11.8% |
* Well below Ingalls'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 4 building fires Ingalls departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 16 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 | 8 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 6.2% |
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 Ingalls mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 81.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 1 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ingalls departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ingalls sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 3 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,579 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 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 20 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 47.3 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 | 46048 | 61 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Ingalls. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.