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2025 County Report

Fires in Edwards County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Edwards County responded to 47 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $60K property loss.

3,338 residents FIPS 17047 9 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
47
198 across 5 years
Building fires
4
13 wildland
Property loss
$161K
$126K structure · $35K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.

47
Total Incidents
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 6 12.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 6 12.8%
Building fires 4 8.5%
Grass fire 4 8.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 4 8.5%
All other categories 23 48.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Edwards County?

Mar peaks. May dips.

Jan 2
Feb 2
Mar 11
Apr 2
May 0
Jun 2
Jul 8
Aug 2
Sep 3
Oct 8
Nov 6
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Edwards County

198 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 33
2022 52
2023 33
2024 33
2025 47
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 4 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
47%
9
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
26%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
16%
3
Under investigation
11%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

4 fires · $126K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Edwards County during 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $60,000 Albion Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
2 $60,000 Albion Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
3 $3,000 Albion Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
4 $2,500 Browns Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Edwards County compares

Edwards County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.08
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Edwards County
14.08
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
1.2
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Edwards County
1.2
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Edwards County
0
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Edwards County

9 cities mapped to FIPS 17047.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Edwards County

4 departments report from this county.

Albion FDRural FPD
—
FDID EB114 27 incidents
West Salem Rural FPD
—
FDID EB143 10 incidents
Bone Gap Rural FPD
—
FDID EB123 6 incidents 20 vol
Browns FPD
Browns
FDID EB133 5 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.