In 2025, fire departments serving Wood Dale responded to 110 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K 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 68% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
625 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.7M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 124 | — | |
| 2022 | 129 | +4.0% | |
| 2023 | 158 | +22.5% | |
| 2024 | 104 | -34.2% | |
| 2025 | 110 | +5.8% |
For the 24 building fires Wood Dale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 68 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 | 11 | 16.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 9 | 13.2% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 4 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Closet | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 20 | 29.4% |
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 Wood Dale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 38 | 55.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 4 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wood Dale departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,200 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wood Dale sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,252 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 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 600 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 396 | 43.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 341 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 291 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 274 | 44.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 44.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 244 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 232 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 216 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 204 | 43.0 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 60191 | 625 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Wood Dale. 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.