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2025 County Report

Fires in McLean County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving McLean County responded to 1,423 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $850K property loss.

154,256 residents FIPS 17113 53 cities · 23 fire depts
Total incidents
1,423
6,332 across 5 years
Building fires
149
187 wildland
Property loss
$8.1M
$6.1M structure · $2.0M contents
Casualties
2 / 23
2 civ deaths · 5 civ inj · 18 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

1,423
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 278 19.5%
Power line down 194 13.6%
Building fires 149 10.5%
Cooking fire, confined to container 85 6.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 85 6.0%
All other categories 632 44.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in McLean County?

Mar peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 77
Feb 81
Mar 194
Apr 91
May 103
Jun 120
Jul 186
Aug 91
Sep 122
Oct 132
Nov 123
Dec 103
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in McLean County

6,332 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,425
2022 1,111
2023 1,175
2024 1,198
2025 1,423
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 149 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
51%
202
Cause undetermined
20%
80
Intentional / arson
14%
56
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
37
Under investigation
4%
14
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
6
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.8M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in McLean County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 62% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $850,000 LE ROY Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
2 $500,000 Danvers Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $400,000 Bloomington Building fires Major
4 $350,000 Town of Normal Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
5 $300,000 Bloomington Building fires Major
6 $300,000 Danvers Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
7 $300,000 Town of Normal Building fires Major
8 $300,000 Normal Outside equipment fire Major
9 $250,000 Bloomington Building fires Major
10 $250,000 Village of Stanford Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
06 How McLean County compares

McLean County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.22
Incidents per 1,000 residents
McLean County
9.22
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
0.97
Building fires per 1,000 residents
McLean County
0.97
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
13
Civilian fire deaths per million
McLean County
13
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in McLean County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17113.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in McLean County

23 departments report from this county.

BLOOMINGTON FD
—
FDID MK141 634 incidents 89 paid
NORMAL FD
—
FDID MK332 330 incidents 44 paid
Randolph Twp FD
—
FDID MK273 62 incidents 27 vol
BLOOMINGTON TWP FPD
—
FDID MK158 56 incidents 28 vol
Downs Comm FPD
—
FDID MK233 50 incidents 30 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.