In 2025, fire departments serving Ullin responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.5M 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 87% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
47 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 7 | — | |
| 2024 | 8 | +14.3% | |
| 2025 | 24 | +200.0% |
* Well below Ullin'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 9 building fires Ullin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | 10 | 52.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Construction/renovation area | 1 | 5.3% |
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 Ullin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 78.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ullin departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ullin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,240 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 | 28.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 500 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 409 | 27.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 245 | 7.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 227 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 15.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 129 | 34.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 115 | 46.8 mi |
Top 2 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 Ullin. 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.