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2025 County Report

Fires in Spencer County, IN

In 2025, fire departments serving Spencer County responded to 134 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

10,489 residents FIPS 18147 31 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
134
730 across 5 years
Building fires
22
12 wildland
Property loss
$1.5M
$871K structure · $609K 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 54% of all calls.

134
Total Incidents
Building fires 22 16.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 18 13.4%
Power line down 18 13.4%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 8 6.0%
Passenger vehicle fire 7 5.2%
All other categories 61 45.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Spencer County?

Jan peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 26
Feb 4
Mar 20
Apr 26
May 9
Jun 8
Jul 5
Aug 14
Sep 0
Oct 6
Nov 5
Dec 11
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Spencer County

730 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 100
2022 141
2023 198
2024 157
2025 134
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 22 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
8
Cause undetermined
16%
3
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
21%
4
Under investigation
5%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
16%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $845K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Spencer County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Evanston Building fires Major
2 $120,000 Town of Chrisney Building fires Significant
3 $65,000 City of Rockport Building fires Significant
4 $60,000 City of Rockport Building fires Significant
5 $25,000 City of Rockport Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $25,000 Town of Dale Building fires Significant
7 $20,000 Town of Dale Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
8 $10,000 Town of Richland Building fires Significant
9 $10,000 City of Rockport Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $10,000 Town of Santa Claus Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Spencer County compares

Spencer County vs IN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.78
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Spencer County
12.78
IN avg
8.61
US avg
7.15
2.1
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Spencer County
2.1
IN avg
1.26
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Spencer County
0
IN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Spencer County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 18147.

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.