In 2025, fire departments serving Kirkwood responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
82 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $512K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 34 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 13 | — | |
| 2024 | 12 | -7.7% | |
| 2025 | 17 | +41.7% |
* Well below Kirkwood'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 0 building fires Kirkwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 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 | 6 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 4.8% |
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 Kirkwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 61.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kirkwood departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kirkwood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,511 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 32.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 333 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 32.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 232 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 180 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 174 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 27.1 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 Kirkwood. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kirkwood.
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.