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2025 County Report

Fires in Knox County, IN

In 2025, fire departments serving Knox County responded to 163 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

23,677 residents FIPS 18083 29 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
163
1,699 across 5 years
Building fires
31
31 wildland
Property loss
$518K
$418K structure · $99K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.

163
Total Incidents
Building fires 31 19.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 19 11.7%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 14 8.6%
Carbon monoxide incident 11 6.7%
Power line down 11 6.7%
All other categories 77 47.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Knox County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 10
Feb 17
Mar 46
Apr 16
May 7
Jun 15
Jul 6
Aug 16
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 20
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Knox County

1,699 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 237
2022 402
2023 511
2024 386
2025 163
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 31 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
28%
13
Cause undetermined
17%
8
Intentional / arson
28%
13
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
5
Under investigation
13%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $413K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Knox County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 99% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Bicknell Building fires Significant
2 $90,000 Vincennes Building fires Significant
3 $65,000 Bicknell Building fires Significant
4 $60,000 Wheatland Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $30,000 Edwardsport Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $20,000 Edwardsport Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $20,000 Wheatland Building fires Significant
8 $15,000 Vincennes Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $10,000 BICKNELL Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $3,000 Bicknell Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Knox County compares

Knox County vs IN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.88
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Knox County
6.88
IN avg
8.61
US avg
7.15
1.31
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Knox County
1.31
IN avg
1.26
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Knox County
0
IN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Knox County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 18083.

CityPopulation 
Vincennes 16,715 View ›
Bicknell 2,818 View ›
Monroe City 867 View ›
Oaktown 755 View ›
Freelandville 734 View ›
Bruceville 474 View ›
Wheatland 402 View ›
Sandborn 314 View ›
Edwardsport 281 View ›
Decker 170 View ›
Westphalia 71 View ›
Ragsdale 42 View ›
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).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 INBOR-FY19-RX-Unit 3&4 Spring 2109 WUI 2019 FWS 1,977
2 INBOR-FY19-RX-Unit 8 Spring 2109 NonWUI 2019 FWS 769
3 OGDEN DUNS 1986 NPS 556
4 21-INDU Tolleston Dunes East 2021 NPS 550
5 Miller 3 Wildfire 2021 NPS 424
6 INBOR-FY19-RX-Unit 5&41 Spring 2109 NonWUI 2019 FWS 419
7 INBOR-FY19-RX-Unit 28&29 PGM Spring 2109 NonWUI 2019 FWS 410
8 INBOR-FY19-RX-Unit 31 North Spring 2109 NonWUI 2019 FWS 400
9 23 Tolleston Dunes West RX BIL 2023 NPS 335
10 22-INDU Derby Ditch 2021 NPS 327

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.