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2025 County Report

Fires in Washington County, IN

In 2025, fire departments serving Washington County responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $83K property loss.

9,161 residents FIPS 18175 29 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
78
604 across 5 years
Building fires
14
2 wildland
Property loss
$204K
$173K structure · $31K 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 58% of all calls.

78
Total Incidents
Building fires 14 17.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 11 14.1%
Power line down 10 12.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 5 6.4%
Gasoline or other flammable liquid spill 5 6.4%
All other categories 33 42.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Washington County?

Dec peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 6
Feb 7
Mar 10
Apr 12
May 4
Jun 4
Jul 5
Aug 6
Sep 0
Oct 1
Nov 10
Dec 13
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Washington County

604 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 92
2022 136
2023 169
2024 129
2025 78
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 14 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
8
Cause undetermined
15%
2
Intentional / arson
8%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

4 fires · $173K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Washington County during 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $83,000 City of Salem Building fires Significant
2 $50,000 City of Salem Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
3 $30,000 City of Salem Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $10,000 City of Salem Building fires Significant
06 How Washington County compares

Washington County vs IN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.51
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Washington County
8.51
IN avg
8.61
US avg
7.15
1.53
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Washington County
1.53
IN avg
1.26
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Washington County
0
IN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Washington County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 18175.

CityPopulation 
Salem 6,330 View ›
New Pekin 1,224 View ›
Campbellsburg 666 View ›
Little York 221 View ›
Hardinsburg 179 View ›
Saltillo 154 View ›
Martinsburg 134 View ›
Canton 133 View ›
Livonia 83 View ›
Fredericksburg 37 View ›
Hitchcock 0 View ›
McKinley 0 View ›
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).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 INBOR-FY19-RX-Unit 3&4 Spring 2109 WUI 2019 FWS 1,977
2 INBOR-FY19-RX-Unit 8 Spring 2109 NonWUI 2019 FWS 769
3 OGDEN DUNS 1986 NPS 556
4 21-INDU Tolleston Dunes East 2021 NPS 550
5 Miller 3 Wildfire 2021 NPS 424
6 INBOR-FY19-RX-Unit 5&41 Spring 2109 NonWUI 2019 FWS 419
7 INBOR-FY19-RX-Unit 28&29 PGM Spring 2109 NonWUI 2019 FWS 410
8 INBOR-FY19-RX-Unit 31 North Spring 2109 NonWUI 2019 FWS 400
9 23 Tolleston Dunes West RX BIL 2023 NPS 335
10 22-INDU Derby Ditch 2021 NPS 327

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.