In 2025, fire departments serving Oak Park responded to 129 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K 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 61% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
765 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 195 | — | |
| 2022 | 127 | -34.9% | |
| 2023 | 153 | +20.5% | |
| 2024 | 161 | +5.2% | |
| 2025 | 129 | -19.9% |
For the 15 building fires Oak Park departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 355 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 | 102 | 28.7% | |
| 2 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 46 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 34 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 33 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 17 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Other | 14 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 12 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 64 | 18.0% |
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 Oak Park mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 99 | 27.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 52 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 45 | 12.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 35 | 9.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 14 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 44 | 12.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Oak Park departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $300 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oak Park sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,507 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 39.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 64 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 51 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 13.4 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 | 48237 | 765 |
Six Michigan cities with population within ±25% of Oak Park. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Oak Park.
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.