In 2025, fire departments serving Wamac responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 73% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
54 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $328K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 18 | — | |
| 2025 | 26 | +44.4% |
* Well below Wamac'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 Wamac departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | 8 | 44.4% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 3 | Assembly area - less than 100 persons | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Wamac mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wamac departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wamac sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,449 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 97 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 10.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 34.6 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 62801 | 54 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Wamac. 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.