In 2025, fire departments serving Belvidere responded to 344 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 62% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,443 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $4.8M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 255 | — | |
| 2022 | 272 | +6.7% | |
| 2023 | 281 | +3.3% | |
| 2024 | 291 | +3.6% | |
| 2025 | 344 | +18.2% |
For the 54 building fires Belvidere departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 229 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 | 46 | 20.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 31 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 24 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 14 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 10 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 60 | 26.2% |
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 Belvidere mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 129 | 56.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 5.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 11 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 10 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 24 | 10.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Belvidere departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 78% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $38,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Belvidere sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,172 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 169 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 100 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 76 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 24.0 mi |
Top 4 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 Belvidere. 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.