In 2025, fire departments serving Winnebago responded to 46 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K 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 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
369 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 95 | — | |
| 2022 | 66 | -30.5% | |
| 2023 | 85 | +28.8% | |
| 2024 | 77 | -9.4% | |
| 2025 | 46 | -40.3% |
For the 7 building fires Winnebago departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 101 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 27 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 22 | 21.8% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Other | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 19 | 18.8% |
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 Winnebago mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 16.8% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 10.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 19 | 18.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Winnebago departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,200 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Winnebago sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,313 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 35.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 16.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 265 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 169 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 100 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 65 | 41.4 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 Winnebago. 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.