In 2025, fire departments serving Newman responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 90% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
31 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $230K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022 | 10 | — | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | 7 | — | |
| 2025 | 10 | +42.9% |
* Well below Newman'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 2 building fires Newman departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | 5 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Newman mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Newman departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Newman sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 21 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 805 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 48.6 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 61942 | 31 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Newman. 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.