In 2025, fire departments serving Palmyra responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $18K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
May peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
80 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $129K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | — | |
| 2023 | 13 | +8.3% | |
| 2024 | 24 | +84.6% | |
| 2025 | 26 | +8.3% |
* Well below Palmyra'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 4 building fires Palmyra departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 28 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 | 8 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Other | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 10.7% |
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 Palmyra mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 35.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 17.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Palmyra departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $18,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Palmyra sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,539 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 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 30.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 157 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 144 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 16.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 76 | 10.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 48.0 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 | 47164 | 80 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Palmyra. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Palmyra.
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.