In 2025, fire departments serving Lexington responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 89% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
109 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $471K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 | — | |
| 2022 | 38 | +31.0% | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 20 | — | |
| 2025 | 18 | -10.0% |
* Well below Lexington'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 6 building fires Lexington 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Assembly area - less than 100 persons | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 9.5% |
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 Lexington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Incendiary device | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 4.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lexington sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,571 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 60 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 18.0 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 Lexington. 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.