In 2025, fire departments serving Belleville responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
28 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $71K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 8 | — | |
| 2022* | 2 | — | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 12 | +200.0% |
* Well below Belleville'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 Belleville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 4 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Belleville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Sunlight | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Belleville departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $13,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Belleville sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 16,927 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 3,500 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1,500 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 700 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Smoking | 660 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 408 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 401 | 32.9 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 Kansas 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.