In 2025, fire departments serving Pleasant Lake responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Pleasant Lake's departments reported 10 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 25 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Attempted burning, illegal action, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
125 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $182K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 43 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | -51.2% | |
| 2023 | 26 | +23.8% | |
| 2024 | 25 | -3.8% | |
| 2025* | 10 | — |
* Well below Pleasant Lake'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 Pleasant Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13 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 | 4 | 30.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 7.7% |
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 Pleasant Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 30.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Match | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pleasant Lake departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pleasant Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 18 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 502 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 154 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 35 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 22 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 12.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 43.9 mi |
Top 2 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 Pleasant Lake. 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.