In 2025, fire departments serving Knox responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Knox's departments reported 21 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 69 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
347 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $260K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 59 | — | |
| 2022 | 69 | +16.9% | |
| 2023 | 104 | +50.7% | |
| 2024 | 94 | -9.6% | |
| 2025* | 21 | — |
* Well below Knox'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 1 building fires Knox departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 136 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 | Outside area, other | 40 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 29 | 21.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 14 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 17 | 12.5% |
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 Knox mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 43 | 31.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 27 | 19.9% | |
| 3 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 9 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 13.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Knox sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,590 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 40.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 40.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 40.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 41.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 40.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 187 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 182 | 38.6 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 Knox. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Knox.
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.