In 2025, fire departments serving Milledgeville responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K 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 71% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
131 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 29 | — | |
| 2023 | 35 | +20.7% | |
| 2024 | 20 | -42.9% | |
| 2025 | 34 | +70.0% |
* Well below Milledgeville'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 10 building fires Milledgeville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 27 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 | Undetermined | 8 | 29.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 14.8% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 7.4% |
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 Milledgeville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 55.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 3.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Milledgeville departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Cultivated trees or nursery stock fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Milledgeville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,030 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1,500 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 265 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 195 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 100 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 75 | 32.9 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 Milledgeville. 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.