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2025 County Report

Fires in Clinton County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Clinton County responded to 295 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $400K property loss.

22,452 residents FIPS 17027 23 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
295
1,389 across 5 years
Building fires
36
66 wildland
Property loss
$1.9M
$1.4M structure · $489K contents
Casualties
3 / 2
3 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.

295
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 37 12.5%
Power line down 37 12.5%
Building fires 36 12.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 26 8.8%
Grass fire 15 5.1%
All other categories 144 48.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Clinton County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 12
Feb 14
Mar 51
Apr 23
May 25
Jun 34
Jul 29
Aug 22
Sep 27
Oct 24
Nov 24
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Clinton County

1,389 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 247
2022 285
2023 304
2024 258
2025 295
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 36 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
51%
31
Cause undetermined
23%
14
Intentional / arson
5%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
6
Under investigation
5%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Clinton County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 91% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $400,000 Trenton Building fires Major
2 $300,000 Trenton Building fires Major
3 $150,000 Trenton Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 AVISTON Building fires Significant
5 $75,000 AVISTON Building fires Significant
6 $60,000 BREESE Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 Boulder Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 st rose Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 Aviston Building fires Significant
10 $28,000 BREESE Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Clinton County compares

Clinton County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.14
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Clinton County
13.14
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
1.6
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Clinton County
1.6
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
133.6
Civilian fire deaths per million
Clinton County
133.6
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Clinton County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17027.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Clinton County

13 departments report from this county.

BREESE FPD
—
FDID CH144 52 incidents 30 vol
SUGAR CREEK TWP FPD
—
FDID CH233 40 incidents
New Baden VFPD
New Baden
FDID CH204 37 incidents
CLINCLAIR VFPD
—
FDID CH114 30 incidents 32 vol
CARLYLE FPD
—
FDID CH153 30 incidents 25 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.