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2025 County Report

Fires in Jay County, IN

In 2025, fire departments serving Jay County responded to 112 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

10,883 residents FIPS 18075 29 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
112
691 across 5 years
Building fires
16
23 wildland
Property loss
$1.1M
$822K structure · $263K contents
Casualties
0 / 3
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 45% of all calls.

112
Total Incidents
Building fires 16 14.3%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 10 8.9%
Carbon monoxide incident 10 8.9%
Natural vegetation fire, other 8 7.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 7 6.2%
All other categories 61 54.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Jay County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 8
Feb 8
Mar 21
Apr 18
May 11
Jun 14
Jul 12
Aug 2
Sep 0
Oct 1
Nov 7
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Jay County

691 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 107
2022 144
2023 153
2024 175
2025 112
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
49%
22
Cause undetermined
20%
9
Intentional / arson
22%
10
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
3
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $770K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Jay County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 94% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 City of Portland Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Portland Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 City of Portland Building fires Significant
4 $80,000 City of Portland Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
5 $80,000 City of Portland Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
6 $80,000 City of Portland Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 City of Portland Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 City of Portland Building fires Significant
9 $20,000 Dunkirk Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $10,000 City of Portland Building fires Significant
06 How Jay County compares

Jay County vs IN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.29
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Jay County
10.29
IN avg
8.61
US avg
7.15
1.47
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Jay County
1.47
IN avg
1.26
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Jay County
0
IN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Jay County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 18075.

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.