In 2025, fire departments serving Galva responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
297 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $793K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 36 | — | |
| 2022* | 29 | — | |
| 2023 | 95 | — | |
| 2024 | 59 | -37.9% | |
| 2025 | 78 | +32.2% |
* Well below Galva'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 5 building fires Galva departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 33 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 | 18 | 54.5% | |
| 2 | Other | 5 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Light shaft | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 3.0% |
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 Galva mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 21 | 63.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 6 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 3.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Galva departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Galva sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,605 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1,500 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 195 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 55 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 46.2 mi |
Top 6 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 Galva. 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.