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2025 County Report

Fires in Hancock County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Hancock County responded to 164 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.5M property loss.

12,398 residents FIPS 17067 36 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
164
569 across 5 years
Building fires
27
46 wildland
Property loss
$2.1M
$1.8M structure · $349K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Fire, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.

164
Total Incidents
Fire, other 29 17.7%
Building fires 27 16.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 27 16.5%
Power line down 17 10.4%
Grass fire 14 8.5%
All other categories 50 30.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Hancock County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 11
Feb 7
Mar 44
Apr 19
May 8
Jun 7
Jul 11
Aug 6
Sep 12
Oct 17
Nov 19
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Hancock County

569 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 74
2022 81
2023 143
2024 107
2025 164
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 27 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
53%
37
Cause undetermined
31%
22
Intentional / arson
3%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
3
Under investigation
3%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.8M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Hancock County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,500,000 plymouth Fire, other Major
2 $85,000 plymouth Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
3 $70,000 Niota Building fires Significant
4 $60,000 La Harpe Building fires Significant
5 $25,000 La Harpe Building fires Significant
6 $10,000 Rio Vista Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
7 $10,000 Niota Building fires Significant
8 $10,000 Augusta Building fires Significant
9 $5,000 La Harpe Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $5,000 Plymouth Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Hancock County compares

Hancock County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.23
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Hancock County
13.23
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
2.18
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Hancock County
2.18
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
80.7
Civilian fire deaths per million
Hancock County
80.7
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Hancock County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17067.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Hancock County

10 departments report from this county.

LAHARPE FPD
—
FDID HB163 52 incidents
Dallas City Rural FPD
Dallas City
FDID HB143 50 incidents
WARSAW RURAL FPD
Warsaw
FDID HB193 20 incidents 28 vol
West Point Comm FPD
—
FDID HB203 18 incidents
BOWEN FPD
—
FDID HB123 14 incidents 22 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.