In 2025, fire departments serving Loves Park responded to 198 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $120K 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.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,010 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 192 | — | |
| 2022 | 159 | -17.2% | |
| 2023 | 219 | +37.7% | |
| 2024 | 242 | +10.5% | |
| 2025 | 198 | -18.2% |
For the 49 building fires Loves Park departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 181 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 | Outside area, other | 30 | 16.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 29 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 14 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 10 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Other | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 6 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 46 | 25.4% |
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 Loves Park mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 87 | 48.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 9 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 9 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 22 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Loves Park departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $18,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Loves Park sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,653 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 40.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 254 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 169 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 100 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 39.8 mi |
Top 7 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 Loves Park. 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.