In 2025, fire departments serving Forreston responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K 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 78% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
116 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $159K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 32 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | -43.8% | |
| 2023 | 30 | +66.7% | |
| 2024* | 13 | — | |
| 2025 | 23 | — |
* Well below Forreston'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 9 building fires Forreston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 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 | 8 | 30.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Technical processing areas, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 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 Forreston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 65.4% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Forreston departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Forreston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,557 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 37.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 265 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 169 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 100 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 75 | 38.3 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 61030 | 116 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Forreston. 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.