In 2025, fire departments serving Downers Grove responded to 437 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 73% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,850 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $5.5M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 337 | — | |
| 2022 | 293 | -13.1% | |
| 2023 | 372 | +27.0% | |
| 2024 | 411 | +10.5% | |
| 2025 | 437 | +6.3% |
For the 44 building fires Downers Grove departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 272 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 38 | 14.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 33 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 27 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 19 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 14 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Other | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 8 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 82 | 30.1% |
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 Downers Grove mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 131 | 48.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 23 | 8.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 21 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 19 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 13 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Chemical reaction | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Candle | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 31 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Downers Grove departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $332,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $45,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Downers Grove sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
23 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 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 6 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,291 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 750 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 40.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 41.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 40.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 39.1 mi |
Top 4 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 Downers Grove. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Downers Grove.
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.