In 2025, fire departments serving Alhambra responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 91% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
37 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $265K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6 | — | |
| 2022* | 3 | — | |
| 2023 | 10 | — | |
| 2024 | 7 | -30.0% | |
| 2025 | 11 | +57.1% |
* Well below Alhambra'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 6 building fires Alhambra departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 26.3% | |
| 2 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.3% |
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 Alhambra mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 42.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Alhambra departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Alhambra sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,754 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,475 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 44.2 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Alhambra. 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.