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2025 County Report

Fires in Vanderburgh County, IN

In 2025, fire departments serving Vanderburgh County responded to 1,815 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss.

121,615 residents FIPS 18163 23 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
1,815
8,323 across 5 years
Building fires
145
121 wildland
Property loss
$9.3M
$6.3M structure · $3.1M contents
Casualties
1 / 6
1 civ deaths · 5 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.

1,815
Total Incidents
Power line down 398 21.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 259 14.3%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 159 8.8%
Building fires 145 8.0%
Unauthorized burning 99 5.5%
All other categories 755 41.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Vanderburgh County?

Jan peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 457
Feb 107
Mar 203
Apr 199
May 150
Jun 35
Jul 183
Aug 179
Sep 6
Oct 15
Nov 161
Dec 120
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Vanderburgh County

8,323 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,173
2022 1,646
2023 1,754
2024 1,935
2025 1,815
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 145 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
45%
166
Cause undetermined
19%
72
Intentional / arson
17%
64
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
29
Under investigation
5%
20
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
11
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Vanderburgh County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 55% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 Evansville Building fires Major
2 $999,999 Evansville Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
3 $262,400 Evansville Building fires Major
4 $226,800 Evansville Building fires Significant
5 $200,000 Evansville Building or structure weakened or collapsed Significant
6 $150,000 Evansville Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
7 $150,000 Evansville Building fires Significant
8 $150,000 Evansville Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $140,000 Evansville Building fires Significant
10 $131,923 Evansville Building fires Significant
06 How Vanderburgh County compares

Vanderburgh County vs IN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.92
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Vanderburgh County
14.92
IN avg
8.61
US avg
7.15
1.19
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Vanderburgh County
1.19
IN avg
1.26
US avg
0.82
8.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Vanderburgh County
8.2
IN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Vanderburgh County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 18163.

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.