In 2025, fire departments serving Waukegan responded to 465 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $319K 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 55% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,525 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $22.9M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 581 | — | |
| 2022 | 403 | -30.6% | |
| 2023 | 542 | +34.5% | |
| 2024 | 534 | -1.5% | |
| 2025 | 465 | -12.9% |
For the 69 building fires Waukegan departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 717 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 106 | 14.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 91 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 55 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Other | 51 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 50 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 48 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 30 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 27 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 24 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 22 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 213 | 29.7% |
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 Waukegan mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 339 | 47.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 78 | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 37 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 35 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 32 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 21 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 17 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 17 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 14 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 111 | 15.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Waukegan departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 63% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $318,515 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $290,100 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $161,515 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $123,165 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $115,344 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $94,202 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $57,747 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $52,164 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Waukegan sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
36 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 10 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,528 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 750 | 4.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 3.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 180 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 76 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 6.4 mi |
Top 10 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 Waukegan. 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.