In 2025, fire departments serving Union responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 85% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
100 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $345K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | — | |
| 2024 | 31 | +47.6% | |
| 2025 | 26 | -16.1% |
* Well below Union'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 0 building fires Union departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 27 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 | 9 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 29.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 3.7% |
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 Union mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 48.1% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 3.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Union departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Cultivated vegetation, crop fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Union sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,177 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 750 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 180 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 76 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 32.6 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 Union. 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.