In 2025, fire departments serving Mettawa responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
90 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $368K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022* | 8 | — | |
| 2023 | 12 | — | |
| 2024 | 41 | +241.7% | |
| 2025 | 24 | -41.5% |
* Well below Mettawa'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 1 building fires Mettawa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 8 | 53.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 3 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Mettawa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 46.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mettawa departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mettawa sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,510 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 750 | 12.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 11.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 180 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 76 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 15.3 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 Mettawa. 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.