In 2025, fire departments serving Arthur responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Feb peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
84 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $321K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 13 | — | |
| 2023 | 20 | +53.8% | |
| 2024 | 19 | -5.0% | |
| 2025 | 25 | +31.6% |
* Well below Arthur'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 Arthur departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 28 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 | 6 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 17.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 17.9% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 3.6% |
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 Arthur mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 32.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 7 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 3.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Arthur departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $85,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $6,500 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Arthur sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 20 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 723 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 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 44.8 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 | 61911 | 84 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Arthur. 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.