In 2025, fire departments serving Sherrard responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 81% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
103 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $962K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 30 | — | |
| 2023 | 22 | -26.7% | |
| 2024 | 23 | +4.5% | |
| 2025 | 21 | -8.7% |
* Well below Sherrard'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 0 building fires Sherrard departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 24 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 | Other | 7 | 29.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 4.2% |
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 Sherrard mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 20.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 4.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sherrard departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sherrard sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,998 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1,500 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 333 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 265 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 232 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 49.9 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 61281 | 103 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Sherrard. 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.