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2025 County Report

Fires in Lee County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Lee County responded to 568 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $643K property loss.

22,575 residents FIPS 17103 27 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
568
2,209 across 5 years
Building fires
159
119 wildland
Property loss
$2.9M
$2.4M structure · $494K contents
Casualties
1 / 1
1 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.

568
Total Incidents
Building fires 159 28.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 85 15.0%
Grass fire 52 9.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 43 7.6%
Fire, other 24 4.2%
All other categories 205 36.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lee County?

Mar peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 54
Feb 38
Mar 129
Apr 48
May 45
Jun 32
Jul 27
Aug 35
Sep 40
Oct 36
Nov 44
Dec 40
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Lee County

2,209 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 401
2022 348
2023 515
2024 377
2025 568
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 159 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
58%
65
Cause undetermined
10%
11
Intentional / arson
4%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
20%
22
Under investigation
5%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Lee County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 85% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $642,800 DIXON Building fires Major
2 $373,000 HARMON Building fires Major
3 $275,000 Harmon Building fires Major
4 $250,000 Harmon Building fires Major
5 $110,000 Compton Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Amboy Fire, other Significant
7 $100,000 Dixon Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 Nachusa Building fires Significant
9 $70,000 Dixon Building fires Significant
10 $60,000 lee Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
06 How Lee County compares

Lee County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

25.16
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lee County
25.16
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
7.04
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lee County
7.04
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
44.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lee County
44.3
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lee County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17103.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lee County

10 departments report from this county.

Dixon FD
—
FDID LD142 154 incidents 16 paid 10 vol
DIXON RURAL FPD
—
FDID LD152 113 incidents 8 paid 8 vol
AMBOY FPD
—
FDID LD113 58 incidents
SUBLETTE FD
—
FDID LD198 42 incidents
FRANKLIN GROVE FPD
—
FDID LD163 36 incidents 23 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.