In 2025, fire departments serving Oakland City responded to 36 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K 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 61% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
117 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $90K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 33 | — | |
| 2022 | 19 | -42.4% | |
| 2023 | 25 | +31.6% | |
| 2024* | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 36 | — |
* Well below Oakland 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 7 building fires Oakland City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 12 | 80.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Function area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Oakland City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 80.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Oakland City departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oakland City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,363 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 716 | 2.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 418 | 1.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 365 | 8.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 356 | 9.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 98 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 80 | 4.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 47.9 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 | 47660 | 117 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Oakland City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Oakland 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.