In 2025, fire departments serving West Lafayette responded to 440 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,606 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 298 | — | |
| 2022 | 276 | -7.4% | |
| 2023 | 265 | -4.0% | |
| 2024 | 327 | +23.4% | |
| 2025 | 440 | +34.6% |
For the 25 building fires West Lafayette departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 205 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 | 26 | 12.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 24 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 23 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 18 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Other | 14 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 8 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 60 | 29.3% |
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 West Lafayette mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 89 | 43.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 23 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 19 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 13 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 11 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by West Lafayette departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $170,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Lafayette sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 7 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 195 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 15 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 | 9.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 38.7 mi |
Top 8 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 West Lafayette. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in West Lafayette.
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.