In 2025, fire departments serving East Galesburg responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 100% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
51 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $250K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | -18.2% | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 14 | — | |
| 2025 | 11 | -21.4% |
* Well below East Galesburg'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 0 building fires East Galesburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 5 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 | 3 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - 5+ persons; including barrack/dormitory | 1 | 20.0% |
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 East Galesburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 80.0% | |
| 2 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 20.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. East Galesburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,134 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1,500 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 375 | 44.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 333 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 46.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 232 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 195 | 43.2 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 | 61430 | 51 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of East Galesburg. 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.