In 2025, fire departments serving Wheeling responded to 250 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 66% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,221 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 236 | — | |
| 2022 | 231 | -2.1% | |
| 2023 | 256 | +10.8% | |
| 2024 | 248 | -3.1% | |
| 2025 | 250 | +0.8% |
For the 61 building fires Wheeling departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 135 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 | 28 | 20.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 23 | 17.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 10 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 7 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 36 | 26.7% |
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 Wheeling mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 75 | 55.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 10 | 7.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 6 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 8.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wheeling departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $170,005 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $123,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $53,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wheeling sits below 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,232 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 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 49.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 49.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 48.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 191 | 49.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 187 | 48.6 mi |
Top 5 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 Wheeling. 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.