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2025 County Report

Fires in Boone County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Boone County responded to 527 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss.

39,162 residents FIPS 17007 13 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
527
1,950 across 5 years
Building fires
112
46 wildland
Property loss
$1.9M
$1.5M structure · $432K contents
Casualties
0 / 3
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 3 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.

527
Total Incidents
Building fires 112 21.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 62 11.8%
Carbon monoxide incident 48 9.1%
Power line down 48 9.1%
Unauthorized burning 38 7.2%
All other categories 219 41.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Boone County?

Aug peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 38
Feb 28
Mar 35
Apr 53
May 35
Jun 49
Jul 48
Aug 82
Sep 64
Oct 45
Nov 38
Dec 12
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Boone County

1,950 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 353
2022 351
2023 344
2024 375
2025 527
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 112 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
44%
47
Cause undetermined
22%
23
Intentional / arson
9%
10
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
8
Under investigation
13%
14
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Boone County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 75% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 POPLAR GROVE Building fires Major
2 $200,000 GARDEN PRAIRIE Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 BELVIDERE Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 BELVIDERE Building fires Significant
5 $75,000 BELVIDERE Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 CALEDONIA Building fires Significant
7 $60,000 Belvidere Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $50,000 BELVIDERE Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 BELVIDERE Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 CALEDONIA Building fires Significant
06 How Boone County compares

Boone County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.46
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Boone County
13.46
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
2.86
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Boone County
2.86
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Boone County
0
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Boone County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17007.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Boone County

4 departments report from this county.

BELVIDERE FD
—
FDID BB111 229 incidents 22 paid
Boone FPD 2
—
FDID BB144 173 incidents 3 paid
North Boone FPD 3
Poplar Grove
FDID BB133 111 incidents 25 vol
Boone FPD 1
—
FDID BB123 26 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in IL

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
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

About this data

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.