In 2025, fire departments serving Princeton responded to 68 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $165K 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 63% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
397 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $886K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 63 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 150 | — | |
| 2024 | 111 | -26.0% | |
| 2025 | 68 | -38.7% |
* Well below Princeton'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 8 building fires Princeton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 79 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 16.5% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 16.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 9 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 6 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 19 | 24.1% |
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 Princeton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 45.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 10 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 5.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Princeton departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $165,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $4,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $200 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Princeton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,878 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 | 14.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 418 | 12.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 365 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 356 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 98 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 80 | 11.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 45.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 65 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 32.4 mi |
Top 3 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 Princeton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Princeton.
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.