In 2025, fire departments serving McLean responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
112 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $868K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 18 | — | |
| 2022 | 22 | +22.2% | |
| 2023 | 30 | +36.4% | |
| 2024 | 14 | -53.3% | |
| 2025 | 28 | +100.0% |
For the 1 building fires McLean departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 59 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 28.8% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 23.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 11 | 18.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 15.3% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 1.7% |
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 McLean mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 43 | 72.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 5.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 1.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by McLean departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. McLean sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,974 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 | 375 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 16.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 4.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 48.0 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 61754 | 112 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of McLean. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in McLean.
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.