In 2025, fire departments serving Taylorville responded to 224 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.1M 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 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
956 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.4M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 142 | — | |
| 2022 | 184 | +29.6% | |
| 2023 | 226 | +22.8% | |
| 2024 | 180 | -20.4% | |
| 2025 | 224 | +24.4% |
For the 59 building fires Taylorville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 252 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 45 | 17.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 33 | 13.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 17 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 12 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 8 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 76 | 30.2% |
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 Taylorville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 105 | 41.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 30 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 17 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 14 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 35 | 13.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Taylorville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,100,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Taylorville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
19 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,510 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 18.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 15.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 55 | 48.7 mi |
Top 5 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 Taylorville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Taylorville.
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.