In 2025, fire departments serving Linton responded to 80 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 44% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
321 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $114K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 14 | — | |
| 2022* | 12 | — | |
| 2023 | 95 | — | |
| 2024 | 120 | +26.3% | |
| 2025 | 80 | -33.3% |
* Well below Linton'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 Linton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 48 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 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 3 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Other | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 29.2% |
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 Linton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 35.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 18.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 4 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 3 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Linton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,490 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 716 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 418 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 365 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 80 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 47 | 46.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 40 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 29.4 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 | 47441 | 321 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Linton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Linton.
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.