In 2025, fire departments serving Mulberry Grove responded to 59 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $35K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
240 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $847K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 68 | — | |
| 2023 | 44 | -35.3% | |
| 2024 | 59 | +34.1% | |
| 2025 | 59 | +0.0% |
* Well below Mulberry Grove'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 9 building fires Mulberry Grove departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 103 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 | 31 | 30.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 17.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 14 | 13.6% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 6 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 5 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 13 | 12.6% |
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 Mulberry Grove mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 55 | 53.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 12 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 5 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 4.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mulberry Grove departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $35,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Cultivated vegetation, crop fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $9,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mulberry Grove sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,177 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 6.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 9.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 0.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 15.5 mi |
Top 5 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 Mulberry Grove. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Mulberry Grove.
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.