In 2025, fire departments serving Patoka responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
25 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $20K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | — | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 10 | +150.0% |
* Well below Patoka'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 3 building fires Patoka departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 1 | 50.0% |
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 Patoka mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 50.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Patoka sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,315 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 10.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 23.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 | 17.2 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 Patoka. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Patoka.
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.