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2025 County Report

Fires in Whitley County, IN

In 2025, fire departments serving Whitley County responded to 167 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $15K property loss.

14,482 residents FIPS 18183 19 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
167
901 across 5 years
Building fires
24
36 wildland
Property loss
$31K
$16K structure · $16K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.

167
Total Incidents
Building fires 24 14.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 21 12.6%
Unauthorized burning 19 11.4%
Grass fire 16 9.6%
Fire, other 12 7.2%
All other categories 75 44.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Whitley County?

Nov peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 8
Feb 7
Mar 29
Apr 16
May 23
Jun 16
Jul 13
Aug 14
Sep 1
Oct 3
Nov 31
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Whitley County

901 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 110
2022 206
2023 207
2024 211
2025 167
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 24 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
67%
26
Cause undetermined
10%
4
Intentional / arson
10%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
3
Under investigation
5%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $16K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Whitley County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $15,000 Town of Churubusco Building fires Significant
2 $500 South Whitley Fire, other Significant
06 How Whitley County compares

Whitley County vs IN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.53
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Whitley County
11.53
IN avg
8.61
US avg
7.15
1.66
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Whitley County
1.66
IN avg
1.26
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Whitley County
0
IN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Whitley County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 18183.

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.