In 2025, fire departments serving Wataga responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
68 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $112K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | +0.0% | |
| 2023 | 23 | +155.6% | |
| 2024* | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 19 | — |
* Well below Wataga'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 2 building fires Wataga departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 24 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 20.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 20.8% |
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 Wataga mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 37.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wataga departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wataga sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,719 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1,500 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 375 | 49.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 333 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 232 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 28.5 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 Wataga. 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.