In 2025, fire departments serving Mount Carroll responded to 62 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
87 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $612K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 3 | — | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | 19 | — | |
| 2025 | 62 | +226.3% |
* Well below Mount Carroll'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 11 building fires Mount Carroll 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 | Other | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 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 Mount Carroll mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 5 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mount Carroll departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mount Carroll sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,119 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 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 265 | 11.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 195 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 100 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 35.7 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 Mount Carroll. 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.