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2025 County Report

Fires in Clay County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Clay County responded to 53 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $600K property loss.

7,249 residents FIPS 17025 16 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
53
365 across 5 years
Building fires
7
15 wildland
Property loss
$2.1M
$1.6M structure · $452K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.

53
Total Incidents
Building fires 7 13.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 6 11.3%
Grass fire 5 9.4%
Oil or other combustible liquid spill 4 7.5%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 3 5.7%
All other categories 28 52.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Clay County?

Mar peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 3
Feb 3
Mar 15
Apr 7
May 2
Jun 0
Jul 3
Aug 0
Sep 7
Oct 5
Nov 5
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Clay County

365 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 81
2022 98
2023 78
2024 55
2025 53
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 7 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
48%
13
Cause undetermined
19%
5
Intentional / arson
22%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Clay County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $600,000 LOUISVILLE Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
2 $285,000 LOUISVILLE Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $250,000 LOUISVILLE Oil or other combustible liquid spill Major
4 $126,000 XENIA Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 LOUISVILLE Oil or other combustible liquid spill Significant
6 $100,000 LOUISVILLE Oil or other combustible liquid spill Significant
7 $70,000 LOUISVILLE Building fires Significant
8 $20,000 LOUISVILLE Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 Xenia Building fires Significant
10 $10,000 LOUISVILLE Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
06 How Clay County compares

Clay County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.31
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Clay County
7.31
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
0.97
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Clay County
0.97
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Clay County
0
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Clay County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17025.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Clay County

4 departments report from this county.

NORTH CLAY FPD
LOUISVILLE
FDID CG154 25 incidents 55 vol
XENIA VFPD
—
FDID CG164 18 incidents 45 vol
CLAY CITY FPD
—
FDID CG114 1 incidents 60 vol
FLORA VFPD
—
FDID CG124 0 incidents 32 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.