ZIP 46304 recorded 103 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 817 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Porter County, IN. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
817 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 192 | |
| 2022 | 166 | |
| 2023 | 141 | |
| 2024 | 215 | |
| 2025 | 103 |
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 46304 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 156 | 19.1% | |
| 2 | Power line down | 139 | 17.0% | |
| 3 | Unauthorized burning | 122 | 14.9% | |
| 4 | Building fires | 77 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Carbon monoxide incident | 54 | 6.6% |
For the 12 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 46304 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 21 | 13.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 20 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 19 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 10.8% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 53 | 33.8% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 64 | 40.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 10 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 9 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 32 | 20.4% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 46304 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 675% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Major |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
| 5 | $145,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 6 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | 2025 | Significant |
| 7 | $94,100 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 8 | $75,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | 2023 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 46304.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chesterton | 532 | |
| 2 | Porter | 176 | |
| 3 | Burns Harbor | 61 | |
| 4 | Gary | 2 |
The figures above are historical. For today's air quality, fire-weather warnings, and active fires, go to the official sources.
NFIRS reports each fire incident with a 5-digit address ZIP. We aggregate those rows directly to produce ZIP-level totals — 817 incidents in this ZIP across 2021–2025. Building-fire breakdowns (Area of Origin, Heat Source, ignition cause) only count fires investigators classified beyond the basic incident report. Because NFIRS reporting is voluntary, totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.