In 2025, fire departments serving Plainfield responded to 262 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.
1,264 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 206 | — | |
| 2022 | 255 | +23.8% | |
| 2023 | 283 | +11.0% | |
| 2024 | 258 | -8.8% | |
| 2025 | 262 | +1.6% |
For the 26 building fires Plainfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 358 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 | 94 | 26.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 76 | 21.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 41 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 26 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 13 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 8 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 56 | 15.6% |
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 Plainfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 204 | 57.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 7.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 22 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 22 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 12 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 7 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 32 | 8.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Plainfield departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $58,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Plainfield sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,397 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,549 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 156 | 33.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 47 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 37 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 34 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 30 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 46.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 27 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 47.4 mi |
Top 5 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 Plainfield. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Plainfield.
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.