In 2025, fire departments serving Southport responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $27K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 91% of all calls.
Feb peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
45 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $568K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023 | 13 | — | |
| 2024 | 12 | -7.7% | |
| 2025 | 11 | -8.3% |
* Well below Southport'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 5 building fires Southport departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Southport mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 47.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Southport departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $27,360 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,173 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $300 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Southport sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,377 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 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 156 | 26.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 47 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 37 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 | 41.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 34 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 30 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 42.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 27 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 44.3 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 Southport. 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.