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2025 County Report

Fires in Livingston County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Livingston County responded to 451 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss.

25,048 residents FIPS 17105 42 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
451
2,275 across 5 years
Building fires
100
82 wildland
Property loss
$5.3M
$3.9M structure · $1.4M contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.

451
Total Incidents
Building fires 100 22.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 43 9.5%
Power line down 39 8.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 32 7.1%
Grass fire 23 5.1%
All other categories 214 47.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Livingston County?

Mar peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 42
Feb 27
Mar 54
Apr 30
May 42
Jun 35
Jul 36
Aug 30
Sep 42
Oct 52
Nov 27
Dec 34
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Livingston County

2,275 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 429
2022 401
2023 463
2024 531
2025 451
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 100 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
45%
60
Cause undetermined
6%
8
Intentional / arson
14%
18
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
16
Under investigation
20%
26
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
5
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Livingston County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 95% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 Fairbury Building fires Major
2 $1,000,000 Odell Fire, other Major
3 $500,000 Fairbury Building fires Major
4 $350,000 FAIRBURY Building fires Major
5 $300,000 Pontiac Building fires Major
6 $200,000 PONTIAC Building fires Significant
7 $200,000 PONTIAC Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 Chatsworth Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
9 $50,000 PONTIAC Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 PONTIAC Building fires Significant
06 How Livingston County compares

Livingston County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

18.01
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Livingston County
18.01
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
3.99
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Livingston County
3.99
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Livingston County
0
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Livingston County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17105.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Livingston County

13 departments report from this county.

PONTIAC FD
—
FDID LE222 152 incidents 8 paid 3 vol
DWIGHT FPD
—
FDID LE153 72 incidents 29 paid 29 vol
Reading Comm FPD
Streator
FDID LE234 71 incidents 32 vol
FAIRBURY RURAL FPD
Fairbury
FDID LE173 63 incidents 9 vol
ODELL FPD
Odell
FDID LE213 56 incidents 20 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.