In 2025, fire departments serving Abingdon responded to 41 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $70K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Trash or rubbish fire, contained lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
180 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $739K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 50 | — | |
| 2022* | 20 | — | |
| 2023 | 36 | — | |
| 2024 | 33 | -8.3% | |
| 2025 | 41 | +24.2% |
* Well below Abingdon's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 1 building fires Abingdon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 68 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 18 | 26.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 20.6% | |
| 4 | Other | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 1.5% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Abingdon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 49 | 72.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 11 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 7 | Sunlight | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 1.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Abingdon departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $45,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Abingdon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,534 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 375 | 40.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 333 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 232 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 180 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 174 | 47.8 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 61410 | 180 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Abingdon. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.