In 2025, fire departments serving Lake County responded to 5,428 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.8M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips.
26,864 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5,392 | |
| 2022 | 4,846 | |
| 2023 | 5,472 | |
| 2024 | 5,726 | |
| 2025 | 5,428 |
For the 1,130 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Lake County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 31% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,800,000 | Buffalo Grove | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $1,500,000 | Gurnee | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $1,000,000 | GURNEE | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $650,000 | VERNON HILLS | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $500,000 | Highland Park | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $500,000 | Round Lake | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $500,000 | ANTIOCH | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $482,000 | LINDENHURST | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $450,000 | LONG GROVE | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $450,000 | LIBERTYVILLE | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 17097.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Waukegan | 89,435 | View › |
| Buffalo Grove | 42,934 | View › |
| Mundelein | 31,583 | View › |
| North Chicago | 30,890 | View › |
| Gurnee | 30,629 | View › |
| Highland Park | 30,209 | View › |
| Round Lake Beach | 27,229 | View › |
| Vernon Hills | 26,750 | View › |
| Zion | 24,570 | View › |
| Grayslake | 20,801 | View › |
| Libertyville | 20,555 | View › |
| Lake Zurich | 19,749 | View › |
27 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.