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2025 County Report

Fires in Jackson County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Jackson County responded to 747 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss.

35,349 residents FIPS 17077 31 cities · 15 fire depts
Total incidents
747
3,786 across 5 years
Building fires
98
98 wildland
Property loss
$1.8M
$1.3M structure · $526K contents
Casualties
4 / 10
4 civ deaths · 8 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.

747
Total Incidents
Power line down 100 13.4%
Building fires 98 13.1%
Unauthorized burning 77 10.3%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 62 8.3%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 48 6.4%
All other categories 362 48.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Jackson County?

Jan peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 129
Feb 46
Mar 109
Apr 52
May 57
Jun 35
Jul 50
Aug 64
Sep 64
Oct 47
Nov 61
Dec 33
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Jackson County

3,786 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 665
2022 800
2023 793
2024 781
2025 747
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 98 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
43%
93
Cause undetermined
23%
50
Intentional / arson
15%
33
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
26
Under investigation
4%
8
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $745K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Jackson County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 59% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Makanda Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Pomona Fire, other Significant
3 $100,000 Carbondale Building fires Significant
4 $75,000 Carbondale Building fires Significant
5 $75,000 Murphysboro Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 Carbondale Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 ava Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
8 $50,000 jacob Building fires Significant
9 $35,000 CARBONDALE Building fires Significant
10 $35,000 Carbondale Building fires Significant
06 How Jackson County compares

Jackson County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

21.13
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Jackson County
21.13
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
2.77
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Jackson County
2.77
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
113.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Jackson County
113.2
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Jackson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17077.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Jackson County

15 departments report from this county.

CARBONDALE FD
Carbondale
FDID JA111 335 incidents 30 paid
MURPHYSBORO FD
Murphysboro
FDID JA212 171 incidents 11 paid
MurphysboroPomonaSomerset FPD
MURPHYSBORO
FDID JA253 79 incidents
CARBONDALE TWP FD
Carbondale
FDID JA142 42 incidents 4 paid
MAKANDA TWP VFD
—
FDID JA204 34 incidents 21 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.