In 2025, fire departments serving Benld responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
63 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $103K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 14 | +40.0% | |
| 2023 | 14 | +0.0% | |
| 2024* | 6 | — | |
| 2025 | 19 | — |
* Well below Benld'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 1 building fires Benld departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13 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 | 8 | 61.5% | |
| 2 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Wall assembly | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 7.7% |
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 Benld mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 92.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Benld departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,500 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Benld sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,854 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 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 7.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 18.6 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 | 62009 | 63 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Benld. 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.