In 2025, fire departments serving Grant Park responded to 117 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 94% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
526 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 125 | — | |
| 2022 | 106 | -15.2% | |
| 2023* | 57 | — | |
| 2024 | 121 | — | |
| 2025 | 117 | -3.3% |
* Well below Grant Park'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 47 building fires Grant Park departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 43 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 | 41.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 4 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 9.3% |
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 Grant Park mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 30 | 69.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 4.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Grant Park departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Grant Park sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,306 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 31.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 32.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 28.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 30.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 31.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 29.9 mi |
Top 3 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 Grant Park. 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.