In 2025, fire departments serving Franklin Grove responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
75 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $787K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 25 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 15 | — | |
| 2024 | 14 | -6.7% | |
| 2025 | 14 | +0.0% |
* Well below Franklin Grove'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 1 building fires Franklin Grove 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 34.6% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 26.9% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 3.8% |
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 Franklin Grove mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 6 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 3.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Franklin Grove sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,484 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 265 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 195 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 12.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 100 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 60 | 37.7 mi |
Top 2 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 Franklin Grove. 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.