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2025 County Report

Fires in Clay County, IN

In 2025, fire departments serving Clay County responded to 245 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss.

12,926 residents FIPS 18021 34 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
245
1,568 across 5 years
Building fires
65
35 wildland
Property loss
$947K
$723K structure · $224K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.

245
Total Incidents
Building fires 65 26.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 28 11.4%
Unauthorized burning 28 11.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 20 8.2%
Power line down 18 7.3%
All other categories 86 35.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Clay County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 27
Feb 23
Mar 50
Apr 33
May 22
Jun 19
Jul 15
Aug 9
Sep 0
Oct 2
Nov 27
Dec 18
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Clay County

1,568 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 206
2022 313
2023 375
2024 429
2025 245
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 65 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
53%
26
Cause undetermined
14%
7
Intentional / arson
2%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
6
Under investigation
18%
9
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $686K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Clay County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 95% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Brazil Building fires Significant
2 $150,000 Brazil Building fires Significant
3 $95,000 City of Brazil Building fires Significant
4 $75,000 City of Brazil Building fires Significant
5 $55,600 Brazil Building fires Significant
6 $54,900 City of Brazil Building fires Significant
7 $40,000 City of Brazil Building or structure weakened or collapsed Significant
8 $25,000 City of Brazil Building fires Significant
9 $20,000 City of Brazil Building fires Significant
10 $20,000 City of Brazil Building fires Significant
06 How Clay County compares

Clay County vs IN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

18.95
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Clay County
18.95
IN avg
8.61
US avg
7.15
5.03
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Clay County
5.03
IN avg
1.26
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Clay County
0
IN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Clay County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 18021.

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.