In 2025, fire departments serving Bridgeport responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K 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 68% of all calls.
May peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
98 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $194K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 26 | — | |
| 2023 | 18 | -30.8% | |
| 2024 | 26 | +44.4% | |
| 2025 | 19 | -26.9% |
* Well below Bridgeport'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 7 building fires Bridgeport departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 39 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 | 11 | 28.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 4 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 20.5% |
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 Bridgeport mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 28 | 71.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 2.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bridgeport departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bridgeport sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 24 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,342 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 716 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 418 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 365 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 356 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 80 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 43 | 26.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 20 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 10.0 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 | 62417 | 98 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Bridgeport. 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.