In 2025, fire departments serving Michigan City responded to 325 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 49% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
677 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $336K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 119 | — | |
| 2022* | 45 | — | |
| 2023* | 31 | — | |
| 2024 | 157 | — | |
| 2025 | 325 | +107.0% |
* Well below Michigan City'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 21 building fires Michigan City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 180 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 | 38 | 21.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 26 | 14.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 26 | 14.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 10 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 32 | 17.8% |
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 Michigan City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 90 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 14 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 14 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Match | 11 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Michigan City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $800 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Michigan City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,590 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 22.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 21.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 24.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 23.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 22.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 187 | 23.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 182 | 20.1 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 | 46360 | 677 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Michigan City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Michigan City.
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.