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2025 County Report

Fires in Macoupin County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Macoupin County responded to 509 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $400K property loss.

30,651 residents FIPS 17117 47 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
509
2,168 across 5 years
Building fires
89
76 wildland
Property loss
$2.6M
$1.6M structure · $975K contents
Casualties
4 / 2
4 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.

509
Total Incidents
Building fires 89 17.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 58 11.4%
Power line down 49 9.6%
Fire, other 44 8.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 35 6.9%
All other categories 234 46.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Macoupin County?

Mar peaks. Apr dips.

Jan 36
Feb 33
Mar 98
Apr 27
May 34
Jun 35
Jul 42
Aug 41
Sep 45
Oct 42
Nov 45
Dec 31
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Macoupin County

2,168 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 318
2022 437
2023 409
2024 495
2025 509
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 89 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
60%
115
Cause undetermined
23%
43
Intentional / arson
5%
10
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
8
Under investigation
7%
13
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Macoupin County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 76% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $400,000 Brighton Building fires Major
2 $200,000 Bunker Hill Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Mt Olive Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 virden Fire, other Significant
5 $95,000 Staunton Building fires Significant
6 $80,000 virden Fire, other Significant
7 $75,000 Brighton Building fires Significant
8 $65,000 Gillespie Building fires Significant
9 $60,000 Virden Building fires Significant
10 $55,000 Eagerville Building fires Significant
06 How Macoupin County compares

Macoupin County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.61
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Macoupin County
16.61
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
2.9
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Macoupin County
2.9
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
130.5
Civilian fire deaths per million
Macoupin County
130.5
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Macoupin County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17117.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Macoupin County

10 departments report from this county.

Unit 7 FPD
Gillespie
FDID MB163 89 incidents 30 vol
CARLINVILLE VFD
—
FDID MB144 88 incidents
BRIGHTON BETSEY ANN FPD
—
FDID MB124 63 incidents 39 vol
VIRDEN FPD
—
FDID MB273 63 incidents 34 vol
MT OLIVE FPD
—
FDID MB213 61 incidents 32 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.