In 2025, fire departments serving New Albany responded to 269 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 55% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,851 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.9M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 367 | — | |
| 2022 | 411 | +12.0% | |
| 2023 | 392 | -4.6% | |
| 2024 | 412 | +5.1% | |
| 2025 | 269 | -34.7% |
For the 25 building fires New Albany departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 343 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 | 105 | 30.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 42 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 24 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 18 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 12 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 12 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 93 | 27.1% |
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 New Albany mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 172 | 50.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 28 | 8.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 22 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 15 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 11 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 43 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by New Albany departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $60,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,001 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Albany sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
19 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,809 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 354 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 21.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 201 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 182 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 157 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 144 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 117 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 97 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 94 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 35.5 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 | 47150 | 1,851 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of New Albany. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in New Albany.
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.