In 2025, fire departments serving Evanston responded to 390 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 73% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,099 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $8.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 430 | — | |
| 2022 | 409 | -4.9% | |
| 2023 | 418 | +2.2% | |
| 2024 | 452 | +8.1% | |
| 2025 | 390 | -13.7% |
For the 47 building fires Evanston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 246 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 | Outside area, other | 40 | 16.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 31 | 12.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 27 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 16 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 14 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 13 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Other | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 77 | 31.3% |
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 Evanston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 107 | 43.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 27 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 15 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 11 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 40 | 16.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Evanston departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $340,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Evanston sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
25 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 7 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,618 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 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 38.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 37.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 36.3 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 Evanston. 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.