In 2025, fire departments serving Sesser responded to 44 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
219 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $843K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 25 | — | |
| 2022 | 47 | — | |
| 2023 | 69 | +46.8% | |
| 2024 | 34 | -50.7% | |
| 2025 | 44 | +29.4% |
* Well below Sesser'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 7 building fires Sesser departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 63 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 | Undetermined | 25 | 39.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 6 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Other | 5 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 6.3% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 6.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 7.9% |
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 Sesser mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 57.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 7.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 2 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 11.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sesser sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,885 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 409 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 9.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 177 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 176 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 12.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 115 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 115 | 49.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 110 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 102 | 38.8 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 Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Sesser. 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.