In 2025, fire departments serving Ashland responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $12K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
55 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $455K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | +133.3% | |
| 2024 | 8 | -61.9% | |
| 2025 | 17 | +112.5% |
* Well below Ashland'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 0 building fires Ashland 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 | Storage area, other | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 2 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 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 Ashland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 47.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 26.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 2 | 10.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ashland departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $12,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $600 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ashland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,653 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 375 | 35.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 13.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 55 | 9.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 45 | 48.4 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 Ashland. 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.