In 2025, fire departments serving Schaumburg responded to 408 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 61% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,685 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $11.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 290 | — | |
| 2022 | 244 | -15.9% | |
| 2023 | 362 | +48.4% | |
| 2024 | 381 | +5.2% | |
| 2025 | 408 | +7.1% |
For the 40 building fires Schaumburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 360 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 | 64 | 17.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 52 | 14.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 41 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 35 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 26 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 16 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 12 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 8 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 82 | 22.8% |
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 Schaumburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 96 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 41 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 38 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 35 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 29 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 7.2% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 19 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 8 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Sunlight | 8 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 48 | 13.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Schaumburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 88% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,004,245 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $610,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $292,905 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $83,690 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $67,629 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $45,191 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Schaumburg sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,748 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 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 49.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 170 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 94 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 20.8 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 Schaumburg. 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.