In 2025, fire departments serving Dakota responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $65K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
May peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
63 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $100K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 22 | +100.0% | |
| 2025 | 16 | -27.3% |
* Well below Dakota'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 1 building fires Dakota departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Dakota mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Match | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dakota departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $65,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $4,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dakota sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,670 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 20.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 13.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 265 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 169 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 125 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 100 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 30.0 mi |
Top 6 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 Dakota. 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.