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2025 County Report

Fires in Madison County, IN

In 2025, fire departments serving Madison County responded to 1,062 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss.

87,417 residents FIPS 18095 36 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
1,062
5,178 across 5 years
Building fires
195
82 wildland
Property loss
$6.0M
$4.1M structure · $1.9M contents
Casualties
3 / 7
3 civ deaths · 7 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 55% of all calls.

1,062
Total Incidents
Building fires 195 18.4%
Power line down 188 17.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 80 7.5%
Fire, other 67 6.3%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 59 5.6%
All other categories 473 44.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Madison County?

Apr peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 98
Feb 68
Mar 107
Apr 164
May 87
Jun 158
Jul 115
Aug 79
Sep 2
Oct 5
Nov 102
Dec 77
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Madison County

5,178 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 607
2022 973
2023 1,117
2024 1,419
2025 1,062
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 195 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
33%
85
Cause undetermined
26%
67
Intentional / arson
21%
54
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
26
Under investigation
9%
24
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Madison County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 38% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 Pendleton Building fires Major
2 $246,600 Anderson Building fires Significant
3 $170,000 Chesterfield Building fires Significant
4 $151,000 Markleville Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 Ingalls Building fires Significant
6 $150,000 Pendleton Building fires Significant
7 $120,000 Anderson Building fires Significant
8 $115,000 Lapel Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 Anderson Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 Anderson Building fires Significant
06 How Madison County compares

Madison County vs IN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.15
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Madison County
12.15
IN avg
8.61
US avg
7.15
2.23
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Madison County
2.23
IN avg
1.26
US avg
0.82
34.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Madison County
34.3
IN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Madison County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 18095.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Madison County

1 departments report from this county.

Chesterfield Union FD
—
FDID 48019 108 incidents
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.