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2025 County Report

Fires in Champaign County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Champaign County responded to 1,975 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $4.0M property loss.

178,876 residents FIPS 17019 53 cities · 25 fire depts
Total incidents
1,975
9,435 across 5 years
Building fires
208
233 wildland
Property loss
$13.2M
$10.6M structure · $2.6M contents
Casualties
0 / 6
0 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 4 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.

1,975
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 351 17.8%
Building fires 208 10.5%
Power line down 138 7.0%
Carbon monoxide incident 137 6.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 126 6.4%
All other categories 1,015 51.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Champaign County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 125
Feb 149
Mar 288
Apr 125
May 169
Jun 145
Jul 149
Aug 166
Sep 187
Oct 218
Nov 154
Dec 100
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Champaign County

9,435 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,625
2022 1,887
2023 2,035
2024 1,913
2025 1,975
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 208 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
38%
144
Cause undetermined
22%
84
Intentional / arson
12%
46
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
31
Under investigation
16%
62
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
13
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $6.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Champaign County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 63% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $4,000,000 Rantoul Building fires Major
2 $470,000 St Joseph Building fires Major
3 $350,000 Mahomet Building fires Major
4 $350,000 Urbana Building fires Major
5 $305,000 St Joseph Building fires Major
6 $300,000 URBANA Building fires Major
7 $300,000 CHAMPAIGN Building fires Major
8 $200,000 CHAMPAIGN Building fires Significant
9 $200,000 Longview Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
10 $160,000 Rantoul Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Champaign County compares

Champaign County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.04
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Champaign County
11.04
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
1.16
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Champaign County
1.16
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Champaign County
0
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Champaign County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17019.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Champaign County

25 departments report from this county.

CHAMPAIGN FD
—
FDID CD131 584 incidents 75 paid
URBANA FD
—
FDID CD111 400 incidents 42 paid
RANTOUL FD
—
FDID CD293 145 incidents
CORNBELT FPD
—
FDID CD194 143 incidents 44 vol
SAVOY FD
Savoy
FDID CD344 98 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.