In 2025, fire departments serving Vevay responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $125K 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 100% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
79 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $303K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 16 | — | |
| 2024 | 43 | +168.8% | |
| 2025 | 11 | -74.4% |
* Well below Vevay'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 9 building fires Vevay departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 33 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 12.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 4 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Closet | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 33.3% |
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 Vevay mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 18.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 6 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 15.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Incendiary device | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 6.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Vevay departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Vevay sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,828 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 450 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 354 | 16.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 182 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 97 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 74 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 25.5 mi |
Top 2 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 Vevay. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Vevay.
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.