In 2025, fire departments serving Palatine responded to 406 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,036 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 400 | — | |
| 2022 | 388 | -3.0% | |
| 2023 | 408 | +5.2% | |
| 2024 | 434 | +6.4% | |
| 2025 | 406 | -6.5% |
For the 56 building fires Palatine departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 371 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 | 56 | 15.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 45 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 36 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 35 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 27 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 21 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 14 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 12 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 11 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 99 | 26.7% |
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 Palatine mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 111 | 29.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 53 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 22 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 22 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 20 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 19 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 19 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 19 | 5.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 16 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 12 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 58 | 15.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Palatine departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 87% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Palatine sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,282 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 750 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 76 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 49 | 16.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 46 | 38.1 mi |
Top 10 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 Palatine. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Palatine.
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.