In 2025, fire departments serving Bunker Hill responded to 46 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 56% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
181 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $312K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 18 | — | |
| 2022 | 49 | — | |
| 2023 | 34 | -30.6% | |
| 2024 | 34 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 46 | +35.3% |
* Well below Bunker Hill'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 6 building fires Bunker Hill departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 86 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 | Outside area, other | 20 | 23.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 15 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 16.3% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Other | 5 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 12.8% |
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 Bunker Hill mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 34 | 39.5% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 7 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 5 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 5.8% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 8.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bunker Hill departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $11,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bunker Hill sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,669 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,475 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 13.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 11.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 49.9 mi |
Top 2 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 Bunker Hill. 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.