In 2025, fire departments serving Decatur responded to 1,206 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 63% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
5,824 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $13.0M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 992 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,042 | +5.0% | |
| 2023 | 1,411 | +35.4% | |
| 2024 | 1,173 | -16.9% | |
| 2025 | 1,206 | +2.8% |
For the 171 building fires Decatur departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,666 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 | 269 | 16.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 226 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 184 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 171 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 91 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 62 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 50 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 49 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Other | 41 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 37 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 486 | 29.2% |
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 Decatur mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 737 | 44.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 146 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 120 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 114 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 80 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 62 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 43 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 39 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Match | 39 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 38 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 248 | 14.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Decatur departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 43% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Decatur 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 7 | |
| 30-39 | 12 | |
| 40-49 | 9 | |
| 50-59 | 6 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,136 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 17.5 mi |
Top 10 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 Decatur. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Decatur.
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.