In 2025, fire departments serving Rockford responded to 266 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $275K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,254 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.8M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 238 | — | |
| 2022 | 198 | -16.8% | |
| 2023 | 291 | +47.0% | |
| 2024 | 261 | -10.3% | |
| 2025 | 266 | +1.9% |
For the 51 building fires Rockford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 242 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 | Outside area, other | 43 | 17.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 34 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 26 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 11 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Other | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 69 | 28.5% |
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 Rockford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 63 | 26.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 21 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 17 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Match | 13 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 59 | 24.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rockford departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 82% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $275,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rockford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,706 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 191 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 175 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 162 | 19.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 151 | 37.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 13.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 35.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 107 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 106 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 19.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 20.2 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 Michigan cities with population within ±25% of Rockford. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Rockford.
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.