In 2025, fire departments serving Arcola responded to 41 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
141 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $534K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | — | |
| 2023 | 43 | +87.0% | |
| 2024 | 33 | -23.3% | |
| 2025 | 41 | +24.2% |
* Well below Arcola'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 4 building fires Arcola departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 40 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 | 9 | 22.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 17.5% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 3 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 17.5% |
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 Arcola mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 32.5% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 17.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 5.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Arcola sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 20 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 931 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 37.0 mi |
Top 3 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 Arcola. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Arcola.
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.