In 2025, fire departments serving Thompsonville responded to 30 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
130 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $495K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022* | 13 | — | |
| 2023 | 28 | — | |
| 2024 | 51 | +82.1% | |
| 2025 | 30 | -41.2% |
* Well below Thompsonville'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 Thompsonville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 34 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 | 16 | 47.1% | |
| 2 | Other | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Switchgear area, transformer vault | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 5.9% |
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 Thompsonville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 20 | 58.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Thompsonville departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,500 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Thompsonville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,402 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 12.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 409 | 42.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 245 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 177 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 176 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 13.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 129 | 34.0 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 Thompsonville. 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.