In 2025, fire departments serving Washburn responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 91% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
59 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023 | 12 | — | |
| 2024 | 15 | +25.0% | |
| 2025 | 11 | -26.7% |
* Well below Washburn'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 Washburn departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | 6 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 11.1% |
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 Washburn mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 88.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 11.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Washburn sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,006 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 375 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 6.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 60 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 8.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 43.3 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 | 61570 | 59 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Washburn. 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.