In 2025, fire departments serving New Carlisle responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $89K 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 59% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
124 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $593K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022* | 11 | — | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 39 | — | |
| 2025 | 58 | +48.7% |
* Well below New Carlisle'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 11 building fires New Carlisle departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 34 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 | 11 | 32.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 4 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 2.9% |
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 Carlisle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 20 | 58.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Incendiary device | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by New Carlisle departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $89,300 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Carlisle 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 | 41.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 40.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 42.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 42.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 41.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 187 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 182 | 38.8 mi |
Top 3 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 New Carlisle. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in New Carlisle.
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.