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2025 County Report

Fires in Tippecanoe County, IN

In 2025, fire departments serving Tippecanoe County responded to 1,272 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss.

124,765 residents FIPS 18157 35 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
1,272
5,853 across 5 years
Building fires
81
162 wildland
Property loss
$2.2M
$1.6M structure · $566K contents
Casualties
0 / 3
0 civ deaths · 3 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.

1,272
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 292 23.0%
Aircraft standby 186 14.6%
Natural vegetation fire, other 90 7.1%
Building fires 81 6.4%
Power line down 72 5.7%
All other categories 551 43.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Tippecanoe County?

Nov peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 107
Feb 90
Mar 141
Apr 135
May 102
Jun 103
Jul 100
Aug 129
Sep 0
Oct 14
Nov 195
Dec 156
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Tippecanoe County

5,853 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,017
2022 1,077
2023 1,190
2024 1,297
2025 1,272
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 81 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
44%
117
Cause undetermined
25%
67
Intentional / arson
8%
20
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
26
Under investigation
9%
24
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
9
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Tippecanoe County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 76% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Lafayette Building fires Major
2 $200,000 West Lafayette Building fires Significant
3 $170,000 West Lafayette Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 West Lafayette Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 City of West Lafayet Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 West Lafayette Building fires Significant
7 $90,000 Americus Census Desi Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 Lafayette Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 Lafayette Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 West Lafayette Building fires Significant
06 How Tippecanoe County compares

Tippecanoe County vs IN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.2
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Tippecanoe County
10.2
IN avg
8.61
US avg
7.15
0.65
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Tippecanoe County
0.65
IN avg
1.26
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Tippecanoe County
0
IN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Tippecanoe County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 18157.

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.