In 2025, fire departments serving Hanover responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500 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 94% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
67 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $236K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | -50.0% | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 11 | — | |
| 2025 | 17 | +54.5% |
* Well below Hanover'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 3 building fires Hanover departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 6 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 16.7% |
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 Hanover mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 1 | 16.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hanover departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hanover sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,003 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 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 265 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 7.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 195 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 125 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 100 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 19.1 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 | 61041 | 67 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Hanover. 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.