In 2025, fire departments serving Elgin responded to 696 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.3M 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 56% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,427 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $11.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 517 | — | |
| 2022 | 678 | +31.1% | |
| 2023 | 772 | +13.9% | |
| 2024 | 764 | -1.0% | |
| 2025 | 696 | -8.9% |
For the 88 building fires Elgin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 832 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 159 | 19.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 140 | 16.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 85 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 44 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 43 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 35 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 27 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 23 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 22 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Other | 18 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 236 | 28.4% |
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 Elgin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 256 | 30.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 95 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 67 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 66 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 65 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 56 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 40 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 26 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 23 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 20 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 118 | 14.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Elgin departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 79% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $240,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $130,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $45,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Elgin sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
39 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 | 10 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,094 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 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 8.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 67 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 48.3 mi |
Top 10 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 Elgin. 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.