In 2025, fire departments serving Wheaton responded to 319 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
May peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,754 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 396 | — | |
| 2022 | 383 | -3.3% | |
| 2023 | 349 | -8.9% | |
| 2024 | 307 | -12.0% | |
| 2025 | 319 | +3.9% |
For the 30 building fires Wheaton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 215 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 | 43 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 29 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 22 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 16 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 9 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 7 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 59 | 27.4% |
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 Wheaton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 72 | 33.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 21 | 9.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 20 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 11 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 10 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 9 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 7 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 7 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 34 | 15.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wheaton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $350,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $350,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $350,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wheaton sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,291 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 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 46.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 45.0 mi |
Top 4 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 Wheaton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wheaton.
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.