In 2025, fire departments serving Martinsville responded to 288 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,433 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.6M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 228 | — | |
| 2022 | 249 | +9.2% | |
| 2023 | 333 | +33.7% | |
| 2024 | 335 | +0.6% | |
| 2025 | 288 | -14.0% |
For the 78 building fires Martinsville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 425 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 | Outside area, other | 78 | 18.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 55 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 45 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 33 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 24 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Other | 18 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 17 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 17 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 14 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 114 | 26.8% |
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 Martinsville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 203 | 47.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 31 | 7.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 31 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 24 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 24 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 19 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 9 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 46 | 10.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Martinsville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Martinsville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,524 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,549 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 156 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 47 | 34.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 47 | 26.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 40 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 33.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 37 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 | 28.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 34 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 33.2 mi |
Top 8 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 Martinsville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Martinsville.
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.