In 2025, fire departments serving South Barrington responded to 36 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 75% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
211 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 22 | — | |
| 2022 | 49 | — | |
| 2023 | 49 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 55 | +12.2% | |
| 2025 | 36 | -34.5% |
* Well below South Barrington'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 10 building fires South Barrington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 39 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 | 8 | 20.5% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Office | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Roof surface: exterior | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 20.5% |
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 South Barrington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 43.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Chemical reaction | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by South Barrington departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $8,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. South Barrington sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,163 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 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 67 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 49 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 46 | 37.2 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 South Barrington. 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.