In 2025, fire departments serving DeKalb responded to 411 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $280K 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 62% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,332 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $8.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 448 | — | |
| 2022 | 535 | +19.4% | |
| 2023 | 452 | -15.5% | |
| 2024 | 486 | +7.5% | |
| 2025 | 411 | -15.4% |
For the 33 building fires DeKalb departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 320 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 | 62 | 19.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 45 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 31 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 23 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 10 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Other | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 98 | 30.6% |
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 DeKalb mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 175 | 54.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 34 | 10.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 14 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 5 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 29 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by DeKalb departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $280,000 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $34,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. DeKalb sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,817 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 67 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 60 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 36.0 mi |
Top 8 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 DeKalb. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in DeKalb.
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.