In 2025, fire departments serving Forrest responded to 11 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 73% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
55 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $300K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 20 | +81.8% | |
| 2024 | 9 | -55.0% | |
| 2025 | 11 | +22.2% |
* Well below Forrest'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 3 building fires Forrest departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Forrest mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 6.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Forrest sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,205 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 4.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 67 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 47.6 mi |
Top 5 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 Forrest. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Forrest.
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.