In 2025, fire departments serving Rome City responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $4K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 90% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
71 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $41K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 10 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 20 | — | |
| 2024 | 14 | -30.0% | |
| 2025 | 20 | +42.9% |
* Well below Rome 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 0 building fires Rome City 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 7 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Records storage room, storage vault | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 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 Rome City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 53.6% | |
| 2 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 3.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rome City departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,500 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rome City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 10 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 370 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 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 35 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 22 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 12 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 | 41.4 mi |
Top 4 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 Rome City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Rome City.
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.