In 2025, fire departments serving Belleville responded to 814 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $372K 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 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,107 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $10.3M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 736 | — | |
| 2022 | 682 | -7.3% | |
| 2023 | 1,029 | +50.9% | |
| 2024 | 846 | -17.8% | |
| 2025 | 814 | -3.8% |
For the 101 building fires Belleville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 616 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 | 107 | 17.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 77 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 75 | 12.2% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 55 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 52 | 8.4% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 21 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 17 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 16 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 14 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 169 | 27.4% |
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 Belleville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 336 | 54.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 66 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 31 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 28 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 18 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 17 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 15 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Match | 11 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 71 | 11.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Belleville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 62% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $372,045 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $325,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $286,452 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $84,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Belleville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,276 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,475 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 270 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 225 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 150 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 56 | 42.2 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 Belleville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Belleville.
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.