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2025 County Report

Fires in Kankakee County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Kankakee County responded to 1,921 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $10.0M property loss.

80,472 residents FIPS 17091 52 cities · 16 fire depts
Total incidents
1,921
9,023 across 5 years
Building fires
464
209 wildland
Property loss
$18.2M
$13.4M structure · $4.8M contents
Casualties
1 / 12
1 civ deaths · 7 civ inj · 5 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.

1,921
Total Incidents
Building fires 464 24.2%
Authorized controlled burning 306 15.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 228 11.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 180 9.4%
Power line down 180 9.4%
All other categories 563 29.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Kankakee County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 159
Feb 161
Mar 291
Apr 138
May 193
Jun 113
Jul 146
Aug 110
Sep 140
Oct 179
Nov 183
Dec 108
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Kankakee County

9,023 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,685
2022 1,886
2023 1,733
2024 1,798
2025 1,921
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 464 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
53%
121
Cause undetermined
16%
37
Intentional / arson
8%
19
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
20
Under investigation
11%
25
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $11.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Kankakee County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 87% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $10,000,000 Momence Building fires Catastrophic
2 $500,000 Kankakee Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $250,000 Grant Park Building fires Major
4 $200,000 Bradley Building fires Significant
5 $182,802 Bourbonnais Building fires Significant
6 $175,000 Grant Park Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Bradley Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 St Anne Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 Momence Building fires Significant
10 $80,000 Momence Building fires Significant
06 How Kankakee County compares

Kankakee County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

23.87
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Kankakee County
23.87
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
5.77
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Kankakee County
5.77
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
12.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
Kankakee County
12.4
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Kankakee County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17091.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Kankakee County

16 departments report from this county.

KANKAKEE FD
Kankakee
FDID KB211 333 incidents 50 paid
BOURBONNAIS FPD
Bourbonnais
FDID KB143 251 incidents 15 paid
BRADLEY FD
Bradley
FDID KB152 234 incidents 7 paid
Manteno Comm FPD
Manteno
FDID KB242 234 incidents 20 paid
Limestone FPD
—
FDID KB233 187 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.