In 2025, fire departments serving Cambria responded to 74 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $8K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 78% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
158 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $363K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 14 | — | |
| 2022 | 31 | — | |
| 2023 | 26 | -16.1% | |
| 2024* | 13 | — | |
| 2025 | 74 | — |
* Well below Cambria'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 8 building fires Cambria departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 33 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 | 5 | 15.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Other | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 15.2% |
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 Cambria mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 30.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 12.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cambria departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Hazardous condition, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cambria sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,531 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 409 | 20.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 245 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 177 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 176 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 17.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 129 | 37.1 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 Cambria. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cambria.
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.