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2025 County Report

Fires in Monroe County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Monroe County responded to 333 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

23,887 residents FIPS 17133 24 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
333
1,386 across 5 years
Building fires
32
43 wildland
Property loss
$1.2M
$1.1M structure · $148K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 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 62% of all calls.

333
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 98 29.4%
Power line down 36 10.8%
Building fires 32 9.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 24 7.2%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 15 4.5%
All other categories 128 38.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Monroe County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 18
Feb 22
Mar 73
Apr 29
May 24
Jun 18
Jul 28
Aug 28
Sep 28
Oct 16
Nov 23
Dec 26
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Monroe County

1,386 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 160
2022 285
2023 354
2024 254
2025 333
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 32 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
63%
47
Cause undetermined
16%
12
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
4
Under investigation
4%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
12%
9
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $820K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Monroe County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 77% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 COLUMBIA Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
2 $200,000 WATERLOO Building fires Significant
3 $85,000 WATERLOO Building fires Significant
4 $80,000 Waterloo Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
5 $75,000 Columbia Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 COLUMBIA Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
7 $40,000 Waterloo Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $40,000 WATERLOO Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $25,000 COLUMBIA Building fires Significant
10 $25,000 Columbia Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Monroe County compares

Monroe County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.94
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Monroe County
13.94
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
1.34
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Monroe County
1.34
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Monroe County
0
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Monroe County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17133.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Monroe County

5 departments report from this county.

Waterloo VFDRural FPD
Waterloo
FDID MN153 165 incidents 32 vol
COLUMBIA VFD
—
FDID MN118 142 incidents 40 vol
VALMEYER FPD
—
FDID MN143 24 incidents 3 paid
Hecker FPD
—
FDID MN124 21 incidents 25 vol
Maeystown VFD
Maeystown
FDID MN133 15 incidents 22 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.