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2025 County Report

Fires in Iroquois County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Iroquois County responded to 361 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

16,644 residents FIPS 17075 44 cities · 21 fire depts
Total incidents
361
1,534 across 5 years
Building fires
68
71 wildland
Property loss
$1.3M
$973K structure · $320K 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 51% of all calls.

361
Total Incidents
Building fires 68 18.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 44 12.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 28 7.8%
Power line down 23 6.4%
Cultivated grain or crop fire 21 5.8%
All other categories 177 49.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Iroquois County?

Oct peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 18
Feb 27
Mar 46
Apr 28
May 41
Jun 26
Jul 23
Aug 21
Sep 46
Oct 55
Nov 22
Dec 8
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Iroquois County

1,534 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 208
2022 275
2023 281
2024 409
2025 361
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 68 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
60%
45
Cause undetermined
7%
5
Intentional / arson
16%
12
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
7
Under investigation
3%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $780K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Iroquois County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 80% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Village of Clifton Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Gilman Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
3 $100,000 Gilman Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
4 $100,000 watseka Building fires Significant
5 $75,000 sheldon Building fires Significant
6 $65,000 watseka Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
7 $40,000 Village of Clifton Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
8 $40,000 Onarga Building fires Significant
9 $30,000 Gilman Building fires Significant
10 $30,000 Gilman Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Iroquois County compares

Iroquois County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

21.69
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Iroquois County
21.69
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
4.09
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Iroquois County
4.09
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Iroquois County
0
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Iroquois County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17075.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Iroquois County

21 departments report from this county.

WATSEKA VFD
Watseka
FDID IA323 90 incidents 9 vol
PAPINEAU FPD
—
FDID IA283 35 incidents
BUCKLEY FPD
—
FDID IA143 30 incidents
Sheldon FPD
Sheldon
FDID IA293 29 incidents
CRESCENTIROQUOIS FPD
Crescent City
FDID IA192 26 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.