In 2025, fire departments serving Owaneco responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1 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 80% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
38 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $31K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 9 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 8 | -11.1% | |
| 2025 | 10 | +25.0% |
* Well below Owaneco'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 0 building fires Owaneco departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 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 | 8 | 38.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 23.8% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Function area, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 1 | 4.8% |
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 Owaneco mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 81.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Owaneco departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Owaneco sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,437 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 9.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 26.1 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 Owaneco. 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.