In 2025, fire departments serving Brownstown responded to 30 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
127 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 37 | — | |
| 2023 | 23 | -37.8% | |
| 2024 | 26 | +13.0% | |
| 2025 | 30 | +15.4% |
* Well below Brownstown'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 4 building fires Brownstown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 79 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 | 49 | 62.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 8 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 5.1% |
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 Brownstown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 62 | 78.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 1.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Brownstown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,091 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 24.1 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 Brownstown. 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.