In 2025, fire departments serving Rockford responded to 30 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 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.
108 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 24 | — | |
| 2022 | 28 | +16.7% | |
| 2023 | 20 | -28.6% | |
| 2024* | 6 | — | |
| 2025 | 30 | — |
* Well below Rockford'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 6 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 17 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 | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Rockford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rockford departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rockford sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,517 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 8,513 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 33.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 49.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 28.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 280 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 26.6 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Rockford. 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.