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2025 County Report

Fires in Fayette County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Fayette County responded to 150 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

10,421 residents FIPS 17051 22 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
150
544 across 5 years
Building fires
31
52 wildland
Property loss
$1.0M
$737K structure · $295K contents
Casualties
1 / 2
1 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 62% of all calls.

150
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 32 21.3%
Building fires 31 20.7%
Grass fire 13 8.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 10 6.7%
Fire, other 7 4.7%
All other categories 57 38.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Fayette County?

Mar peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 9
Feb 4
Mar 32
Apr 8
May 9
Jun 11
Jul 14
Aug 10
Sep 19
Oct 14
Nov 15
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Fayette County

544 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 65
2022 116
2023 97
2024 116
2025 150
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 31 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
60%
48
Cause undetermined
6%
5
Intentional / arson
2%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
5
Under investigation
22%
18
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $690K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Fayette County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 94% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Vandalia Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Farina Building fires Significant
3 $75,000 Vandalia Building fires Significant
4 $75,000 Shobonier Building fires Significant
5 $60,000 Shobonier Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
6 $60,000 Vandalia Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 St Peter Building fires Significant
8 $30,000 Vandalia Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $20,000 Farina Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
10 $20,000 St Peter Building fires Significant
06 How Fayette County compares

Fayette County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.39
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Fayette County
14.39
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
2.97
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Fayette County
2.97
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
96
Civilian fire deaths per million
Fayette County
96
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Fayette County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17051.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Fayette County

6 departments report from this county.

VANDALIA VFD
—
FDID FA164 45 incidents 30 vol
FARINA FPD
Farina
FDID FA124 32 incidents 34 vol
BROWNSTOWN FPD
—
FDID FA113 30 incidents 31 vol
ST PETER FPD
St Peter
FDID FA154 27 incidents 30 vol
ST ELMO FPD
—
FDID FA144 18 incidents 31 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.