In 2025, fire departments serving Deer Creek responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 93% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
67 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $85K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 10 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 20 | — | |
| 2024* | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 27 | — |
* Well below Deer Creek'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 5 building fires Deer Creek departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13 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 | Other | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Closet | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 7.7% |
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 Deer Creek mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Deer Creek departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Deer Creek sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,079 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 | 375 | 32.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 26.8 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 61733 | 67 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Deer Creek. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Deer Creek.
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.