In 2025, fire departments serving Aurora responded to 1,187 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
5,052 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $19.1M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 800 | — | |
| 2022 | 861 | +7.6% | |
| 2023 | 1,143 | +32.8% | |
| 2024 | 1,061 | -7.2% | |
| 2025 | 1,187 | +11.9% |
For the 76 building fires Aurora departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,005 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 | 172 | 17.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 146 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 124 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 49 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 42 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 36 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 34 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 29 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 26 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 25 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 322 | 32.0% |
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 Aurora mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 566 | 56.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 65 | 6.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 52 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 50 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 42 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 29 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 25 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 22 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 117 | 11.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Aurora departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 45% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Aurora sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
23 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 4 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,873 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 35.7 mi |
Top 10 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 Aurora. 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.