Home› Counties› IL› LaSalle County
2025 County Report

Fires in LaSalle County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving LaSalle County responded to 1,466 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $750K property loss.

85,401 residents FIPS 17099 61 cities · 23 fire depts
Total incidents
1,466
6,427 across 5 years
Building fires
283
198 wildland
Property loss
$10.5M
$7.7M structure · $2.8M contents
Casualties
2 / 8
2 civ deaths · 5 civ inj · 3 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

1,466
Total Incidents
Building fires 283 19.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 181 12.3%
Power line down 126 8.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 125 8.5%
Unauthorized burning 110 7.5%
All other categories 641 43.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in LaSalle County?

Jul peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 144
Feb 67
Mar 164
Apr 120
May 146
Jun 144
Jul 175
Aug 90
Sep 77
Oct 123
Nov 124
Dec 92
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in LaSalle County

6,427 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,175
2022 1,126
2023 1,332
2024 1,328
2025 1,466
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 283 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
54%
159
Cause undetermined
17%
49
Intentional / arson
7%
20
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
23
Under investigation
13%
38
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.9M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in LaSalle County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 50% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $750,000 Ottawa Building fires Major
2 $750,000 La Salle Building fires Major
3 $600,000 MENDOTA Building fires Major
4 $300,000 Marseilles Building fires Major
5 $300,000 Sheridan Building fires Major
6 $286,000 Seneca Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Major
7 $250,000 Sheridan Building fires Major
8 $250,000 Peru Building fires Major
9 $200,000 Ottawa Building fires Significant
10 $200,000 Ottawa Building fires Significant
06 How LaSalle County compares

LaSalle County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

17.17
Incidents per 1,000 residents
LaSalle County
17.17
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
3.31
Building fires per 1,000 residents
LaSalle County
3.31
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
23.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
LaSalle County
23.4
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in LaSalle County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17099.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in LaSalle County

23 departments report from this county.

STREATOR FD
—
FDID LB331 252 incidents 13 paid
PERU FD
Peru
FDID LB272 138 incidents 4 paid
OTTAWA FD
—
FDID LB262 131 incidents 28 paid
MENDOTA FD
—
FDID LB362 103 incidents 6 paid
LASALLE FD
—
FDID LB173 101 incidents 4 paid
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.