In 2025, fire departments serving Peotone responded to 118 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $275K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
May peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
474 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 93 | — | |
| 2022 | 70 | -24.7% | |
| 2023 | 64 | -8.6% | |
| 2024 | 129 | +101.6% | |
| 2025 | 118 | -8.5% |
For the 26 building fires Peotone departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 77 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 | Undetermined | 21 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 26.0% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 19.5% |
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 Peotone mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 43 | 55.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 4 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 4 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 5.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Peotone departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $275,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $22,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Peotone sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,306 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 32.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 34.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 30.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 31.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 33.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 31.2 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 Peotone. 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.