In 2025, fire departments serving East Peoria responded to 205 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
938 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 171 | — | |
| 2022 | 149 | -12.9% | |
| 2023 | 209 | +40.3% | |
| 2024 | 204 | -2.4% | |
| 2025 | 205 | +0.5% |
For the 22 building fires East Peoria departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 438 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 | 105 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 104 | 23.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 44 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 14 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 8 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 89 | 20.3% |
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 Peoria mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 203 | 46.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 39 | 8.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 29 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 27 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 23 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 17 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 13 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Match | 13 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 43 | 9.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by East Peoria departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $66,125 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $46,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. East Peoria sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,979 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 | 26.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 16.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 40.2 mi |
Top 2 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 East Peoria. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in East Peoria.
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.