In 2025, fire departments serving LaSalle responded to 113 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $125K 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 70% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
397 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $41.2M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 46 | — | |
| 2022* | 29 | — | |
| 2023 | 114 | — | |
| 2024 | 95 | -16.7% | |
| 2025 | 113 | +18.9% |
* Well below LaSalle'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 45 building fires LaSalle departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 69 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 | 16 | 23.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 10.1% | |
| 5 | Other | 4 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 21.7% |
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 LaSalle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 52 | 75.4% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated heat from another fire | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 1.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by LaSalle departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. LaSalle sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,617 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 4.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 7.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 9.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 67 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 26.7 mi |
Top 4 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 LaSalle. 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.