In 2025, fire departments serving West City responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 90% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
48 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $70K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023 | 9 | — | |
| 2024 | 8 | -11.1% | |
| 2025 | 10 | +25.0% |
* Well below West City'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 West City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | 3 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Storage area, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 1 | 10.0% |
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 West City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 10.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,332 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 409 | 37.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 245 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 15.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 177 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 176 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 129 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 115 | 36.7 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 West City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in West City.
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.