In 2025, fire departments serving Brookfield responded to 101 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K 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 82% of all calls.
May peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
679 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 162 | — | |
| 2022 | 150 | -7.4% | |
| 2023 | 115 | -23.3% | |
| 2024 | 151 | +31.3% | |
| 2025 | 101 | -33.1% |
For the 38 building fires Brookfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 126 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 | 25 | 19.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 22 | 17.5% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Other | 9 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 31 | 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 Brookfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 54 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 15 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Arcing | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 14.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Brookfield departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $7,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Brookfield sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,291 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 750 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 32.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 33.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 33.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 31.9 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 | 60513 | 679 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Brookfield. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Brookfield.
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.