In 2025, fire departments serving West Frankfort responded to 191 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
908 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 142 | — | |
| 2022 | 201 | +41.5% | |
| 2023 | 199 | -1.0% | |
| 2024 | 175 | -12.1% | |
| 2025 | 191 | +9.1% |
For the 53 building fires West Frankfort departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 417 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 | Outside area, other | 134 | 32.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 67 | 16.1% | |
| 3 | Other | 27 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 26 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 23 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 18 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 9 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 9 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 83 | 19.9% |
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 Frankfort mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 228 | 54.7% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 25 | 6.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 18 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 16 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 16 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 52 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by West Frankfort departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 72% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $110,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $95,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Frankfort sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,342 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 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 409 | 34.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 245 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 177 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 176 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 129 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 115 | 32.3 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 West Frankfort. 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.