In 2025, fire departments serving Bellevue responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
43 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $85K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 9 | — | |
| 2025 | 25 | +177.8% |
* Well below Bellevue'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 8 building fires Bellevue departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 1 | 11.1% |
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 Bellevue mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 44.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bellevue departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bellevue sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,766 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 | 23.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 11.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 | 27.2 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 61604 | 43 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Bellevue. 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.