In 2025, fire departments serving Earlville responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K 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 68% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
182 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 31 | — | |
| 2022* | 20 | — | |
| 2023 | 48 | — | |
| 2024 | 55 | +14.6% | |
| 2025 | 28 | -49.1% |
* Well below Earlville'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 4 building fires Earlville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 38 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 | 10 | 26.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 10 | 26.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Structural area, other | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 13.2% |
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 Earlville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 34.2% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 18.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 6 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 7.9% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Munitions | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Earlville departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Earlville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,662 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 67 | 41.4 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 | 60518 | 182 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Earlville. 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.