In 2025, fire departments serving Dahlgren responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $8K 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 100% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
56 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $614K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 16 | — | |
| 2023 | 8 | -50.0% | |
| 2024 | 14 | +75.0% | |
| 2025 | 12 | -14.3% |
* Well below Dahlgren'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 9 building fires Dahlgren departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 29 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 27.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 13.8% |
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 Dahlgren mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 27.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 17.2% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 13.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 3.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dahlgren departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dahlgren sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,451 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 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 177 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 176 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 115 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 115 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 110 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 97 | 32.6 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 Dahlgren. 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.