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2025 County Report

Fires in Posey County, IN

In 2025, fire departments serving Posey County responded to 155 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

11,516 residents FIPS 18129 29 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
155
968 across 5 years
Building fires
25
32 wildland
Property loss
$375K
$239K structure · $136K 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 57% of all calls.

155
Total Incidents
Building fires 25 16.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 25 16.1%
Power line down 18 11.6%
Authorized controlled burning 12 7.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 9 5.8%
All other categories 66 42.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Posey County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 29
Feb 10
Mar 33
Apr 19
May 11
Jun 9
Jul 15
Aug 7
Sep 1
Oct 0
Nov 11
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Posey County

968 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 171
2022 200
2023 234
2024 208
2025 155
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 25 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
43%
9
Cause undetermined
19%
4
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
29%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
9%
1
05 The biggest fires

8 fires · $239K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Posey County during 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 City of Mount Vernon Building fires Significant
2 $50,000 Town of Cynthiana Building fires Significant
3 $50,000 Wadesville Building fires Significant
4 $15,000 Mount Vernon Building fires Significant
5 $10,000 City of Mount Vernon Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $10,000 Town of Cynthiana Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $4,000 evanville Building fires Significant
8 $1 Mount Vernon Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
06 How Posey County compares

Posey County vs IN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.46
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Posey County
13.46
IN avg
8.61
US avg
7.15
2.17
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Posey County
2.17
IN avg
1.26
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Posey County
0
IN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Posey County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 18129.

CityPopulation 
Mount Vernon 6,480 View ›
Poseyville 1,156 View ›
Saint Wendel 893 View ›
New Harmony 825 View ›
Cynthiana 702 View ›
Parkers Settlement 547 View ›
Wadesville 517 View ›
Stewartsville 153 View ›
Blairsville 130 View ›
Griffin 113 View ›
Marrs Center 0 View ›
Heusler 0 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.