In 2025, fire departments serving Pekin responded to 479 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,390 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 496 | — | |
| 2022 | 406 | -18.1% | |
| 2023 | 477 | +17.5% | |
| 2024 | 532 | +11.5% | |
| 2025 | 479 | -10.0% |
For the 54 building fires Pekin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 263 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 | 33 | 12.5% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 21 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 20 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 19 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 19 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 16 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 15 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 10 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Wall assembly | 10 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 90 | 34.2% |
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 Pekin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 53 | 20.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 39 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 34 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 21 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 21 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 20 | 7.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 36 | 13.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pekin departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 64% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $72,800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pekin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,746 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 | 375 | 17.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 38.0 mi |
Top 6 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 Pekin. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pekin.
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.