In 2025, fire departments serving Lovington responded to 36 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Trash or rubbish fire, contained lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
83 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $196K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022 | 13 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | +7.7% | |
| 2024 | 15 | +7.1% | |
| 2025 | 36 | +140.0% |
* Well below Lovington'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 3 building fires Lovington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | 5 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 3 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Lovington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lovington departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000 | Cultivated grain or crop fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Attempt to burn | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lovington sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 23 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,053 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 12.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 14.3 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 Lovington. 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.