In 2025, fire departments serving Walton responded to 33 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K 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 73% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
86 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 17 | — | |
| 2024 | 25 | +47.1% | |
| 2025 | 33 | +32.0% |
* Well below Walton'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 10 building fires Walton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 14 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 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 7.1% |
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 Walton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Walton departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Walton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 3 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 50 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 20 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 47.9 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 46994 | 86 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Walton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Walton.
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.