In 2025, fire departments serving Princeton responded to 115 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
491 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.5M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 68 | — | |
| 2022 | 87 | +27.9% | |
| 2023 | 126 | +44.8% | |
| 2024 | 95 | -24.6% | |
| 2025 | 115 | +21.1% |
For the 6 building fires Princeton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 105 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 | 22 | 21.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 15 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 6 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 23 | 21.9% |
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 Princeton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 49 | 46.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 7 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 5.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Princeton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $23,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $7,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Princeton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,894 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 13.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 195 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 60 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 32.7 mi |
Top 4 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 Princeton. 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.