In 2025, fire departments serving Roselle responded to 159 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 62% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
781 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 161 | — | |
| 2022 | 168 | +4.3% | |
| 2023 | 148 | -11.9% | |
| 2024 | 145 | -2.0% | |
| 2025 | 159 | +9.7% |
For the 23 building fires Roselle departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 148 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 | 20 | 13.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 16 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 12 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 45 | 30.4% |
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 Roselle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 63 | 42.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 7 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Candle | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 19 | 12.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Roselle departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Roselle sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,081 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 750 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 48.0 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 Roselle. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Roselle.
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.