In 2025, fire departments serving Essex responded to 44 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 84% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
128 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022* | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 33 | — | |
| 2024 | 36 | +9.1% | |
| 2025 | 44 | +22.2% |
* Well below Essex'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 24 building fires Essex departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13 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 | 6 | 46.2% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Storage area, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 7.7% |
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 Essex mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 53.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 7.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Essex sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,374 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 11.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 12.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 4.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 3.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 4.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 67 | 12.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 60 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 32.0 mi |
Top 3 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 Essex. 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.