In 2025, fire departments serving Volo responded to 50 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $375K 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 72% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
166 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $902K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 19 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | — | |
| 2023 | 43 | +104.8% | |
| 2024 | 33 | -23.3% | |
| 2025 | 50 | +51.5% |
* Well below Volo'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 12 building fires Volo departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 31 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 | 5 | 16.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 16.1% |
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 Volo mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 29.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 16.1% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Sunlight | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 9.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Volo departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $375,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $4,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Volo sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
33 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 10 | |
| 30-39 | 10 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 6 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,537 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 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 180 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 3.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 76 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 19.4 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 Volo. 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.