This was seventeen months after the first recorded fire in Indianapolis occurred on January 17, 1825, which took place in a tavern across the street from the county courthouse.

They were also known to break into brothels and freely use their hoses on the clientele and the interior walls, wrecking the places; this was done not for moral reasons, but rather, to amuse themselves.

Maxwell was considered the father of the Indianapolis Fire Force and faced only slight criticism for the idea, although it was not widely popular at this time with the former volunteers.

In December 2023, Wayne Township announced that it was starting a process that could lead to its fire department merging into IFD.

[10] In July 2021, the city council of Beech Grove began consideration of an interlocal agreement under which IFD would provide fire protection services for the next 20 years.

There are currently fourteen Divisions of Operations within the Indianapolis Fire Department: Communications, Emergency Operations, Emergency Medical Services, Executive Services, Finance and Pension, Fire Investigations Section, Fire and Life Safety, Homeland Security/Special Operations and Training, Quartermaster, Information Technology, Media Relations, Safety, Support Services, and USAR Indiana Task Force One.

[13] The Indianapolis Fire Department is the founding member of one of the 28 FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force.

[18] While IEMS is not a part of the Indianapolis Fire Department, the two agencies work closely together in daily operations and long term EMS system planning.

[20] On the morning of October 20, 1987, a USAF A-7D-4-CV Corsair II, serial 69-6207, sustained some sort of engine failure about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of the city at around 31,000 feet.