In 2025, fire departments serving Yorktown responded to 79 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 66% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
283 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $669K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 63 | — | |
| 2023 | 57 | -9.5% | |
| 2024 | 71 | +24.6% | |
| 2025 | 79 | +11.3% |
* Well below Yorktown'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 13 building fires Yorktown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 67 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 | 18 | 26.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 14.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 6 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Other | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 16.4% |
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 Yorktown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 33 | 49.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 3.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Yorktown departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Yorktown sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 2 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 30 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 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 44.0 mi |
Top 7 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 Yorktown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.