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2025 County Report

Fires in De Witt County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving De Witt County responded to 318 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

10,720 residents FIPS 17039 21 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
318
1,414 across 5 years
Building fires
70
49 wildland
Property loss
$1.2M
$460K structure · $784K 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 59% of all calls.

318
Total Incidents
Building fires 70 22.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 35 11.0%
Power line down 34 10.7%
Authorized controlled burning 25 7.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 24 7.5%
All other categories 130 40.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in De Witt County?

Mar peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 17
Feb 18
Mar 49
Apr 20
May 33
Jun 22
Jul 21
Aug 18
Sep 32
Oct 34
Nov 29
Dec 25
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in De Witt County

1,414 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 337
2022 195
2023 308
2024 256
2025 318
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 70 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
52%
27
Cause undetermined
21%
11
Intentional / arson
13%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
3
Under investigation
8%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $440K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in De Witt County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 96% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Clinton Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Wapella Building fires Significant
3 $70,000 Clinton Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
4 $50,000 Clinton Building fires Significant
5 $45,000 WAYNESVILLE Building fires Significant
6 $20,000 Farmer City Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
7 $20,000 Weldon Building fires Significant
8 $15,000 Clinton Building fires Significant
9 $10,000 Clinton Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
10 $10,000 weldon Building fires Significant
06 How De Witt County compares

De Witt County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

29.66
Incidents per 1,000 residents
De Witt County
29.66
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
6.53
Building fires per 1,000 residents
De Witt County
6.53
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
De Witt County
0
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in De Witt County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17039.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in De Witt County

6 departments report from this county.

CLINTON FD
Clinton
FDID DB112 128 incidents 3 paid
FARMER CITY FPD
Farmer City
FDID DB123 59 incidents
KENNEY FPD
—
FDID DB134 59 incidents 29 vol
WAPELLA FPD
Wapella
FDID DB143 47 incidents 20 vol
Weldon Comm FPD
Weldon
FDID DB163 10 incidents 20 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.