In 2025, fire departments serving Sumner responded to 30 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
129 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $948K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 34 | — | |
| 2023 | 34 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 25 | -26.5% | |
| 2025 | 30 | +20.0% |
* Well below Sumner'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 Sumner departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 79 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 | 63 | 79.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 1.3% |
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 Sumner mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 70 | 88.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 1.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sumner sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 24 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,342 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 716 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 418 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 365 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 356 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 80 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 43 | 27.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 20 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 15.8 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 Sumner. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sumner.
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.