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2025 County Report

Fires in Henderson County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Henderson County responded to 70 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $130K property loss.

3,277 residents FIPS 17071 22 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
70
337 across 5 years
Building fires
16
20 wildland
Property loss
$488K
$308K structure · $180K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 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 73% of all calls.

70
Total Incidents
Building fires 16 22.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 15 21.4%
Fire, other 10 14.3%
Power line down 7 10.0%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 3 4.3%
All other categories 19 27.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Henderson County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 3
Feb 8
Mar 15
Apr 9
May 6
Jun 7
Jul 4
Aug 2
Sep 1
Oct 7
Nov 5
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Henderson County

337 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 75
2022 79
2023 79
2024 34
2025 70
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 16 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
72%
29
Cause undetermined
5%
2
Intentional / arson
2%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
2%
1
Under investigation
2%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
17%
2
05 The biggest fires

9 fires · $308K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Henderson County during 2025. These 9 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $130,000 Biggsville Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Lomax Building fires Significant
3 $50,000 Lomax Building fires Significant
4 $17,000 Gulfport Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $5,000 Lomax Building fires Significant
6 $5,000 Lomax Building fires Significant
7 $500 Lomax Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
8 $200 Lomax Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
9 $200 Lomax Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Henderson County compares

Henderson County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

21.36
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Henderson County
21.36
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
4.88
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Henderson County
4.88
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
305.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Henderson County
305.2
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Henderson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17071.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Henderson County

5 departments report from this county.

OQUAWKA FPD
—
FDID HD165 29 incidents
GULFPORTGLADSTONE FPD
—
FDID HD123 22 incidents 20 vol
BIGGSVILLE FPD
—
FDID HD113 0 incidents
MediaStronghurstTerre Haute FPD
—
FDID HD154 0 incidents 39 vol
RARITAN FPD
Raritan
FDID HD183 0 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.