In 2025, fire departments serving Lake Villa responded to 143 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 69% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
571 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 55 | — | |
| 2022 | 84 | — | |
| 2023 | 147 | +75.0% | |
| 2024 | 142 | -3.4% | |
| 2025 | 143 | +0.7% |
* Well below Lake Villa'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 34 building fires Lake Villa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 93 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 | 25 | 26.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 12 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Other | 7 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 15.1% |
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 Lake Villa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 55 | 59.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 5.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Match | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 9.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lake Villa departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lake Villa sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,537 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 750 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 13.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 180 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 8.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 76 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 13.7 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 Lake Villa. 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.