In 2025, fire departments serving Loogootee responded to 35 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 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
88 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $58K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 14 | — | |
| 2023 | 16 | +14.3% | |
| 2024 | 14 | -12.5% | |
| 2025 | 35 | +150.0% |
* Well below Loogootee'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 3 building fires Loogootee departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 44.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Technical processing areas, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Multiple areas | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Loogootee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 1 | 5.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Loogootee sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,075 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 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 418 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 365 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 356 | 34.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 157 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 80 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 76 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 40.8 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 | 47553 | 88 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Loogootee. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Loogootee.
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.