In 2025, fire departments serving Tamms responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K 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 78% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
106 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $80K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 32 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | — | |
| 2024 | 29 | +38.1% | |
| 2025 | 18 | -37.9% |
* Well below Tamms'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 6 building fires Tamms departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 30 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 | 6 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Function area, other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 30.0% |
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 Tamms mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 43.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 3.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tamms departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tamms sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,039 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 23.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 500 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 409 | 27.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 245 | 6.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 227 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 129 | 39.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 106 | 4.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 104 | 49.6 mi |
Top 4 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 Tamms. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tamms.
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.