In 2025, fire departments serving Fairview Heights responded to 200 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 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
936 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.6M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 162 | — | |
| 2022 | 140 | -13.6% | |
| 2023 | 215 | +53.6% | |
| 2024 | 219 | +1.9% | |
| 2025 | 200 | -8.7% |
For the 33 building fires Fairview Heights departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 235 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 42 | 17.9% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 36 | 15.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 34 | 14.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 10.6% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 16 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 42 | 17.9% |
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 Fairview Heights mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 122 | 51.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 19 | 8.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 18 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 12 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated heat from another fire | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 26 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fairview Heights departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,010,022 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $171,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $34,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fairview Heights sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,318 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,475 | 38.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 270 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 225 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 150 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 45.7 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 Fairview Heights. 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.