In 2025, fire departments serving Mooresville responded to 199 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 47% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
926 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 175 | — | |
| 2022 | 197 | +12.6% | |
| 2023 | 183 | -7.1% | |
| 2024 | 172 | -6.0% | |
| 2025 | 199 | +15.7% |
For the 31 building fires Mooresville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 156 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 | 35 | 22.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Other | 12 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 12 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 37 | 23.7% |
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 Mooresville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 71 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 12 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 20 | 12.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mooresville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $45,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $45,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mooresville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,452 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 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 156 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 47 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 47 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 37 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 34 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 30 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 40.5 mi |
Top 5 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 Mooresville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Mooresville.
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.