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2025 County Report

Fires in Blackford County, IN

In 2025, fire departments serving Blackford County responded to 99 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $50K property loss.

7,682 residents FIPS 18009 9 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
99
632 across 5 years
Building fires
16
11 wildland
Property loss
$1.2M
$230K structure · $946K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.

99
Total Incidents
Power line down 23 23.2%
Building fires 16 16.2%
Grass fire 10 10.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 8 8.1%
Authorized controlled burning 5 5.1%
All other categories 37 37.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Blackford County?

Jul peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 8
Feb 4
Mar 12
Apr 12
May 7
Jun 12
Jul 13
Aug 3
Sep 0
Oct 3
Nov 13
Dec 12
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Blackford County

632 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 111
2022 166
2023 119
2024 137
2025 99
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 16 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
29%
6
Cause undetermined
14%
3
Intentional / arson
5%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
48%
10
Under investigation
5%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $221K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Blackford County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 96% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $50,000 City of Hartford Cit Building fires Significant
2 $50,000 City of Hartford Cit Building fires Significant
3 $35,000 City of Hartford Cit Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
4 $25,000 City of Hartford Cit Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $20,000 City of Montpelier Building fires Significant
6 $20,000 City of Hartford Cit Building fires Significant
7 $8,000 City of Hartford Cit Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $5,000 City of Hartford Cit Building fires Significant
9 $4,000 City of Hartford Cit Building fires Significant
10 $3,500 City of Hartford Cit Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Blackford County compares

Blackford County vs IN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.89
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Blackford County
12.89
IN avg
8.61
US avg
7.15
2.08
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Blackford County
2.08
IN avg
1.26
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Blackford County
0
IN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Blackford County

9 cities mapped to FIPS 18009.

09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in IN

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.