In 2025, fire departments serving Moline responded to 383 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $655K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,816 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $8.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 335 | — | |
| 2022 | 309 | -7.8% | |
| 2023 | 397 | +28.5% | |
| 2024 | 392 | -1.3% | |
| 2025 | 383 | -2.3% |
For the 47 building fires Moline departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 428 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 51 | 11.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 50 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 49 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 49 | 11.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 24 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 18 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 15 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 12 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 11 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 131 | 30.6% |
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 Moline mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 145 | 33.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 43 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 35 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 31 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 30 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 16 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 12 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 68 | 15.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Moline departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 79% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $654,985 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $512,900 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $512,900 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $154,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $113,384 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $96,663 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Moline sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
24 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 5 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,988 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 | 10.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 12.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 45.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 333 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 265 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 232 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 50.0 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 Moline. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Moline.
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.