In 2025, fire departments serving Speedway responded to 125 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 45% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
583 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 91 | — | |
| 2022 | 133 | +46.2% | |
| 2023 | 116 | -12.8% | |
| 2024 | 118 | +1.7% | |
| 2025 | 125 | +5.9% |
For the 13 building fires Speedway departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 132 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 | 25 | 18.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Other | 16 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 16 | 12.1% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 7.6% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 26 | 19.7% |
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 Speedway mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 76 | 57.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 6.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 9 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 7 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 6.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Speedway departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $12,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Speedway sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 9 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,004 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 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 156 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 47.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 37 | 49.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 22 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 41.3 mi |
Top 5 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 Speedway. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Speedway.
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.