In 2025, fire departments serving Centralia responded to 348 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,724 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 296 | — | |
| 2022 | 325 | +9.8% | |
| 2023 | 389 | +19.7% | |
| 2024 | 366 | -5.9% | |
| 2025 | 348 | -4.9% |
For the 45 building fires Centralia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 356 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 | 13.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 41 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 33 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 31 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 26 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 16 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 13 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 8 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 119 | 33.4% |
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 Centralia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 157 | 44.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 39 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 33 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 12 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 40 | 11.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Centralia departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 82% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $55,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $12,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Centralia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,432 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 97 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 9.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 34.1 mi |
Top 4 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 Centralia. 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.