In 2025, fire departments serving Silver Lake responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500 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 67% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
110 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $357K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | +43.8% | |
| 2023 | 19 | -17.4% | |
| 2024 | 34 | +78.9% | |
| 2025 | 18 | -47.1% |
For the 1 building fires Silver Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 7 | 46.7% | |
| 2 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Silver Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 86.7% | |
| 2 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Silver Lake 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. Silver Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 5 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 107 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 20 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 12 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 45.7 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 | 46982 | 110 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Silver 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.