In 2025, fire departments serving Lafayette responded to 668 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,248 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 538 | — | |
| 2022 | 617 | +14.7% | |
| 2023 | 715 | +15.9% | |
| 2024 | 710 | -0.7% | |
| 2025 | 668 | -5.9% |
For the 45 building fires Lafayette departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 873 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 | 214 | 24.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 105 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 96 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 81 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 53 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 47 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 34 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 26 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 20 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 15 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 182 | 20.8% |
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 Lafayette mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 490 | 56.1% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 71 | 8.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 46 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 43 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 40 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 30 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 29 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 11 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 10 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 80 | 9.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lafayette departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lafayette 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 7 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 195 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 15 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 | 5.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 40.5 mi |
Top 7 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 Lafayette. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lafayette.
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.