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2025 County Report

Fires in Rush County, IN

In 2025, fire departments serving Rush County responded to 135 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss.

9,532 residents FIPS 18139 23 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
135
545 across 5 years
Building fires
25
14 wildland
Property loss
$2.6M
$1.4M structure · $1.2M contents
Casualties
1 / 1
1 civ deaths · 1 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 50% of all calls.

135
Total Incidents
Building fires 25 18.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 23 17.0%
Power line down 8 5.9%
Fire, other 6 4.4%
Outside rubbish fire, other 6 4.4%
All other categories 67 49.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Rush County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 20
Feb 13
Mar 23
Apr 13
May 12
Jun 10
Jul 15
Aug 16
Sep 0
Oct 1
Nov 10
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Rush County

545 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 64
2022 83
2023 144
2024 119
2025 135
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
68%
17
Cause undetermined
8%
2
Intentional / arson
8%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
3
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Rush County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 City of Rushville Building fires Major
2 $230,000 Arlington Building fires Significant
3 $50,000 Town of Carthage Building fires Significant
4 $25,000 City of Rushville Building fires Significant
5 $25,000 City of Rushville Building fires Significant
6 $20,000 Falmouth Building fires Significant
7 $20,000 Carthage Outside storage fire Significant
8 $10,000 Town of Glenwood Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $10,000 City of Rushville Building fires Significant
10 $5,000 City of Rushville Building fires Significant
06 How Rush County compares

Rush County vs IN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.16
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Rush County
14.16
IN avg
8.61
US avg
7.15
2.62
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Rush County
2.62
IN avg
1.26
US avg
0.82
104.9
Civilian fire deaths per million
Rush County
104.9
IN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Rush County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 18139.

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.