In 2025, fire departments serving Beecher responded to 96 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
536 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 93 | — | |
| 2022 | 99 | +6.5% | |
| 2023 | 119 | +20.2% | |
| 2024 | 129 | +8.4% | |
| 2025 | 96 | -25.6% |
For the 19 building fires Beecher departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 85 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 | 29 | 34.1% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 18.8% |
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 Beecher mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 46 | 54.1% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 9.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 8.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Beecher departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $4,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $700 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $225 | Outside mailbox fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Beecher sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,306 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 24.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 26.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 22.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 23.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 25.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 23.5 mi |
Top 6 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 Beecher. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Beecher.
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.