In 2025, fire departments serving Carmi responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 69% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
253 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 59 | — | |
| 2022 | 66 | +11.9% | |
| 2023 | 51 | -22.7% | |
| 2024 | 39 | -23.5% | |
| 2025 | 38 | -2.6% |
For the 12 building fires Carmi departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 112 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 | 41 | 36.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 15 | 13.4% | |
| 3 | Other | 7 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Multiple areas | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 14.3% |
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 Carmi mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 64 | 57.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 9 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 5.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Carmi departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Carmi sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,492 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 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 418 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 177 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 176 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 115 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 115 | 37.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 110 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 97 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 90 | 49.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 88 | 35.4 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 Carmi. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Carmi.
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.