In 2025, fire departments serving Waterman responded to 14 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 86% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
31 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $150K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 14 | +250.0% |
* Well below Waterman'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 3 building fires Waterman departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 7 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 | 4 | 57.1% | |
| 2 | Other | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 14.3% |
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 Waterman mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 85.7% | |
| 2 | Sunlight | 1 | 14.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Waterman sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,675 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 45.6 mi |
Top 3 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 Waterman. 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.