In 2025, fire departments serving McCordsville responded to 49 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K 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 67% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
283 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $869K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 29 | — | |
| 2022 | 80 | — | |
| 2023 | 53 | -33.8% | |
| 2024 | 72 | +35.8% | |
| 2025 | 49 | -31.9% |
* Well below McCordsville'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 6 building fires McCordsville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 50 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 | 7 | 14.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 28.0% |
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 McCordsville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 34.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Fireworks | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 12.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by McCordsville departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $300 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. McCordsville sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 4 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,880 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 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 156 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 42.2 mi |
Top 2 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 McCordsville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in McCordsville.
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.