In 2025, fire departments serving Terre Haute responded to 727 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $4.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,900 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $20.2M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 558 | — | |
| 2022 | 795 | +42.5% | |
| 2023 | 970 | +22.0% | |
| 2024 | 850 | -12.4% | |
| 2025 | 727 | -14.5% |
For the 107 building fires Terre Haute departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,403 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 | 432 | 30.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 164 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 111 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 103 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 70 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 54 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 50 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 33 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 29 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 28 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 329 | 23.4% |
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 Terre Haute mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 904 | 64.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 70 | 5.0% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 58 | 4.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 53 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 48 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 44 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 43 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 36 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 18 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 17 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 112 | 8.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Terre Haute departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 73% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000,000 | Fire, other | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $175,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Terre Haute sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
35 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 8 | |
| 60-69 | 6 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 11 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 430 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 3.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 3.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 17.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 9.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 20 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 20 | 26.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 20 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 10 | 7.7 mi |
Top 10 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 Terre Haute. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Terre Haute.
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.