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2025 County Report

Fires in Ripley County, IN

In 2025, fire departments serving Ripley County responded to 148 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

16,084 residents FIPS 18137 26 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
148
912 across 5 years
Building fires
32
9 wildland
Property loss
$439K
$236K structure · $203K 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.

148
Total Incidents
Building fires 32 21.6%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 18 12.2%
Power line down 14 9.5%
Fire, other 10 6.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 10 6.8%
All other categories 64 43.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ripley County?

Nov peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 14
Feb 11
Mar 16
Apr 13
May 15
Jun 16
Jul 11
Aug 15
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 27
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ripley County

912 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 127
2022 202
2023 215
2024 220
2025 148
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 32 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
71%
30
Cause undetermined
10%
4
Intentional / arson
5%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
6
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $235K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Batesville Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Cross Plains Building fires Significant
3 $10,000 Batesville Building fires Significant
4 $8,000 Batesville Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $5,000 Batesville Fire, other Significant
6 $5,000 Town of Sunman Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $2,000 Cross Plains Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue Significant
8 $2,000 Town of Holton Building fires Significant
9 $1,500 Batesville Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $1,000 Batesville Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Ripley County compares

Ripley County vs IN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.2
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ripley County
9.2
IN avg
8.61
US avg
7.15
1.99
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ripley County
1.99
IN avg
1.26
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ripley County
0
IN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ripley County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 18137.

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.