In 2025, fire departments serving Bradford responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Natural vegetation fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
55 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $145K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 10 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | +10.0% | |
| 2024 | 21 | +90.9% | |
| 2025 | 13 | -38.1% |
* Well below Bradford'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 2 building fires Bradford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Computer room, control room or center | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Bradford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 53.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bradford departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bradford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,753 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 195 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 60 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 39.9 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 | 61421 | 55 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Bradford. 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.