In 2025, fire departments serving Cook County responded to 44,847 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $5.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips.
220,528 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 42,471 | |
| 2022 | 42,653 | |
| 2023 | 44,780 | |
| 2024 | 45,777 | |
| 2025 | 44,847 |
For the 5,125 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Cook County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 19% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000,000 | JUSTICE | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $3,600,000 | Chicago Ridge | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $3,516,463 | Chicago | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Major |
| 4 | $2,000,000 | Hoffman Estates | Outside equipment fire | Major |
| 5 | $1,500,000 | Oak Forest | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $1,004,245 | Schaumburg | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $1,000,000 | Niles | Chemical spill or leak | Major |
| 8 | $1,000,000 | Wheeling | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $1,000,000 | Berwyn | Outside gas or vapor combustion explosion | Major |
| 10 | $1,000,000 | Berwyn | Outside gas or vapor combustion explosion | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 17031.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 2,721,914 | View › |
| Cicero | 84,189 | View › |
| Schaumburg | 77,571 | View › |
| Evanston | 77,181 | View › |
| Arlington Heights | 76,794 | View › |
| Palatine | 67,223 | View › |
| Skokie | 67,076 | View › |
| Des Plaines | 60,087 | View › |
| Orland Park | 58,345 | View › |
| Oak Lawn | 57,665 | View › |
| Berwyn | 56,556 | View › |
| Mount Prospect | 56,191 | View › |
108 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red Shale RX | 2024 | FWS | 1,290 |
| 2 | Herrin Flats RX | 2024 | FWS | 1,134 |
| 3 | Beach RX | 2024 | FWS | 864 |
| 4 | Hampton North RX | 2024 | FWS | 708 |
| 5 | Hampton RX | 2024 | FWS | 668 |
| 6 | Grassy Creek 2 RX | 2024 | FWS | 621 |
| 7 | Chamness RX | 2024 | FWS | 610 |
| 8 | Greenbriar RX | 2024 | FWS | 590 |
| 9 | COR - Devils Kitchen West RX | 2024 | FWS | 468 |
| 10 | Smith RX | 2024 | FWS | 366 |
County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.