In 2025, fire departments serving Summit responded to 81 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $149K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
411 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.6M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 39 | — | |
| 2022 | 50 | — | |
| 2023 | 109 | +118.0% | |
| 2024 | 132 | +21.1% | |
| 2025 | 81 | -38.6% |
* Well below Summit'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 5 building fires Summit departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 83 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 26 | 31.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 21 | 25.3% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Closet | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Assembly or sales area, other | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 14.5% |
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 Summit mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 59 | 71.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 9 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 2.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Summit departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $149,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Summit sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,291 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 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 30.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 31.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 30.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 29.3 mi |
Top 6 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 Summit. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Summit.
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.