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2025 County Report

Fires in Christian County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Christian County responded to 475 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.1M property loss.

24,274 residents FIPS 17021 30 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
475
2,033 across 5 years
Building fires
111
57 wildland
Property loss
$7.1M
$4.4M structure · $2.7M contents
Casualties
2 / 6
2 civ deaths · 4 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.

475
Total Incidents
Building fires 111 23.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 49 10.3%
Power line down 46 9.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 35 7.4%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 30 6.3%
All other categories 204 42.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Christian County?

Mar peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 24
Feb 21
Mar 86
Apr 40
May 51
Jun 28
Jul 23
Aug 36
Sep 63
Oct 34
Nov 41
Dec 28
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Christian County

2,033 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 333
2022 359
2023 462
2024 404
2025 475
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 111 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
46%
49
Cause undetermined
20%
21
Intentional / arson
7%
8
Equipment / heat source failure
2%
2
Under investigation
20%
21
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.5M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Christian County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 79% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,100,000 Taylorville Building fires Major
2 $500,000 TAYLORVILLE Building fires Major
3 $450,000 Mount Auburn Building fires Major
4 $350,000 Taylorville Building fires Major
5 $300,000 Palmer Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
6 $300,000 Palmer Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
7 $200,000 Stonington Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 EDINBURG Building fires Significant
9 $85,000 Pana Building fires Significant
10 $80,000 Taylorville Building fires Significant
06 How Christian County compares

Christian County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

19.57
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Christian County
19.57
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
4.57
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Christian County
4.57
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
82.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
Christian County
82.4
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Christian County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17021.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Christian County

8 departments report from this county.

TAYLORVILLE FD
Taylorville
FDID CE202 187 incidents 17 paid
Assumption FPD
—
FDID CE114 45 incidents 27 vol
STONINGTON FPD
STONINGTON
FDID CE193 37 incidents 25 vol
MorrisonvillePalmer FPD
—
FDID CE153 28 incidents 25 vol
OWANECO FPD
—
FDID CE173 28 incidents 18 vol
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.