In 2025, fire departments serving Lake Village responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 78% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
145 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $205K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 27 | — | |
| 2022 | 30 | +11.1% | |
| 2023 | 28 | -6.7% | |
| 2024 | 32 | +14.3% | |
| 2025 | 28 | -12.5% |
For the 3 building fires Lake Village departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Storage area, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Lake Village mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lake Village departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,500 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lake Village sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,306 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 33.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 34.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 31.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 33.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 34.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 33.3 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 | 46349 | 145 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Lake Village. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lake Village.
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.