In 2025, fire departments serving Champaign responded to 680 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,676 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $7.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 644 | — | |
| 2022 | 777 | +20.7% | |
| 2023 | 818 | +5.3% | |
| 2024 | 757 | -7.5% | |
| 2025 | 680 | -10.2% |
For the 34 building fires Champaign departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 707 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 | 119 | 16.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 86 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 81 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 62 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 45 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 44 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 28 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 18 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 16 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 16 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 192 | 27.2% |
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 Champaign mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 432 | 61.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 38 | 5.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 32 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 23 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 22 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 22 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 13 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 74 | 10.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Champaign departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 62% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $110,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Champaign sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
52 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 21 | |
| 40-49 | 19 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 835 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 4.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 14.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 | 4.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 23.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 47.7 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 Champaign. 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.