In 2025, fire departments serving Parker City responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500 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 67% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
64 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $340K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | -38.9% | |
| 2024 | 20 | +81.8% | |
| 2025 | 12 | -40.0% |
* Well below Parker 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 2 building fires Parker City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 14 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 | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Wall assembly | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 9 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 7.1% |
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 Parker City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Parker City departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Parker City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 2 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 30 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 20 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 38.9 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 | 47368 | 64 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Parker City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.