In 2025, fire departments serving Valparaiso responded to 341 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $600K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,905 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $9.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 397 | — | |
| 2022 | 319 | -19.6% | |
| 2023 | 401 | +25.7% | |
| 2024 | 447 | +11.5% | |
| 2025 | 341 | -23.7% |
For the 59 building fires Valparaiso departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 376 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 56 | 14.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 47 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 37 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 33 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 30 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 18 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 18 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Other | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 108 | 28.7% |
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 Valparaiso mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 198 | 52.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 25 | 6.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 23 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 12 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 42 | 11.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Valparaiso departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $347,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Valparaiso sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,590 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 14.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 15.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 14.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 14.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 14.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 15.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 14.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 187 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 182 | 13.1 mi |
Top 9 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 Valparaiso. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Valparaiso.
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.