In 2025, fire departments serving Burnham responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
277 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $682K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 45 | — | |
| 2022 | 65 | +44.4% | |
| 2023 | 57 | -12.3% | |
| 2024 | 52 | -8.8% | |
| 2025 | 58 | +11.5% |
For the 11 building fires Burnham departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 41 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 | 8 | 19.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 6 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 12.2% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Assembly area - less than 100 persons | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 22.0% |
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 Burnham mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 21 | 51.2% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Burnham departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $350 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Burnham sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,306 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 13.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 13.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 13.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 14.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 13.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 13.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 13.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 12.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 14.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 12.0 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 Burnham. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Burnham.
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.