In 2025, fire departments serving Shabbona responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
78 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $749K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 10 | — | |
| 2022* | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 18 | — | |
| 2024 | 17 | -5.6% | |
| 2025 | 24 | +41.2% |
* Well below Shabbona'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 Shabbona departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 28 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 7 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 1 | 3.6% |
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 Shabbona mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Sunlight | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 3.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Shabbona departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Shabbona sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,542 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 67 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 42.5 mi |
Top 2 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 Shabbona. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Shabbona.
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.