In 2025, fire departments serving La Porte responded to 178 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $70K 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 60% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,118 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 218 | — | |
| 2022 | 237 | +8.7% | |
| 2023 | 223 | -5.9% | |
| 2024 | 262 | +17.5% | |
| 2025 | 178 | -32.1% |
For the 18 building fires La Porte departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 146 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 | 35 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 9 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 7 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 41 | 28.1% |
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 La Porte mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 64 | 43.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 25 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 10 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by La Porte departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. La Porte sits above 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 | 29.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 28.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 30.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 30.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 29.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 187 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 182 | 26.8 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 | 46350 | 1,118 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of La Porte. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in La Porte.
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.