In 2025, fire departments serving Grand Ridge responded to 36 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 97% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
86 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $997K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | -35.3% | |
| 2023 | 12 | +9.1% | |
| 2024* | 10 | — | |
| 2025 | 36 | — |
* Well below Grand Ridge'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 25 building fires Grand Ridge departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | 5 | 26.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Wall assembly | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.3% |
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 Grand Ridge mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 42.1% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Grand Ridge departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Grand Ridge sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,582 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 11.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 13.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 67 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 17.8 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 Grand Ridge. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Grand Ridge.
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.