In 2025, fire departments serving Watseka responded to 106 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
453 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 65 | — | |
| 2022 | 98 | +50.8% | |
| 2023 | 87 | -11.2% | |
| 2024 | 97 | +11.5% | |
| 2025 | 106 | +9.3% |
For the 8 building fires Watseka departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 95 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 | 16 | 16.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 15 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 21 | 22.1% |
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 Watseka mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 34 | 35.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 16 | 16.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 5 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 15.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Watseka departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $65,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,000 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Watseka sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,910 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 67 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 47.4 mi |
Top 6 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 Watseka. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Watseka.
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.