In 2025, fire departments serving Blue Island responded to 337 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $800K 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 71% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,463 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $5.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 216 | — | |
| 2022 | 309 | +43.1% | |
| 2023 | 295 | -4.5% | |
| 2024 | 306 | +3.7% | |
| 2025 | 337 | +10.1% |
For the 110 building fires Blue Island departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 171 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 | 34 | 19.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 28 | 16.4% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 14 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 13 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 6 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 6 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 42 | 24.6% |
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 Blue Island mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 84 | 49.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 18 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 13 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 8.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Blue Island departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $800,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $80,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Blue Island sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,306 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 20.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 21.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 20.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 19.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 21.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 19.2 mi |
Top 7 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 Blue Island. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Blue Island.
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.