In 2025, fire departments serving Murphysboro responded to 233 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,017 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 173 | — | |
| 2022 | 192 | +11.0% | |
| 2023 | 182 | -5.2% | |
| 2024 | 237 | +30.2% | |
| 2025 | 233 | -1.7% |
For the 21 building fires Murphysboro departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 233 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 | 56 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 25 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 22 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 19 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 65 | 27.9% |
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 Murphysboro mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 82 | 35.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 28 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 23 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 18 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Match | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 11.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Murphysboro departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 84% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $18,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Murphysboro sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,147 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 409 | 12.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 245 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 129 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 112 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | 110 | 48.1 mi |
Top 4 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 Murphysboro. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Murphysboro.
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.