In 2025, fire departments serving Bethalto responded to 84 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K 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 56% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
247 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $768K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 22 | — | |
| 2022* | 23 | — | |
| 2023 | 31 | — | |
| 2024 | 87 | +180.6% | |
| 2025 | 84 | -3.4% |
* Well below Bethalto'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 5 building fires Bethalto departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 58 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 15.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 9 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 9 | 15.5% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 20.7% |
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 Bethalto mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 26 | 44.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 4 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 1.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bethalto departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bethalto sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,734 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 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 12.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 36.1 mi |
Top 3 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 Bethalto. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bethalto.
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.