In 2025, fire departments serving Tinley Park responded to 474 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,073 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 396 | — | |
| 2022 | 363 | -8.3% | |
| 2023 | 381 | +5.0% | |
| 2024 | 459 | +20.5% | |
| 2025 | 474 | +3.3% |
For the 33 building fires Tinley Park departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 215 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 45 | 20.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 37 | 17.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 25 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 16 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 16 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 7 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 43 | 20.0% |
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 Tinley Park mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 115 | 53.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 23 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 10 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 8.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tinley Park departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 80% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $125,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tinley Park sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,306 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 27.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 28.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 26.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 26.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 27.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 25.4 mi |
Top 9 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 Tinley Park. 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.