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2025 County Report

Fires in Montgomery County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Montgomery County responded to 355 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $800K property loss.

21,897 residents FIPS 17135 26 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
355
1,670 across 5 years
Building fires
73
76 wildland
Property loss
$2.8M
$1.6M structure · $1.2M contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 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 54% of all calls.

355
Total Incidents
Building fires 73 20.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 34 9.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 34 9.6%
Power line down 26 7.3%
Grass fire 25 7.0%
All other categories 163 45.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Montgomery County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 14
Feb 15
Mar 77
Apr 18
May 24
Jun 21
Jul 23
Aug 30
Sep 49
Oct 36
Nov 38
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Montgomery County

1,670 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 315
2022 338
2023 350
2024 312
2025 355
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 73 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
48%
51
Cause undetermined
18%
19
Intentional / arson
10%
11
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
11
Under investigation
11%
12
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.5M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Montgomery County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 90% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $800,000 Farmersville Building fires Major
2 $200,000 Ohlman Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
3 $150,000 Nokomis Building fires Significant
4 $65,000 HILLSBORO Building fires Significant
5 $60,000 Harvel Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 HILLSBORO Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 Litchfield Building fires Significant
8 $45,000 HILLSBORO Building fires Significant
9 $25,000 Litchfield Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $20,000 Nokomis Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Montgomery County compares

Montgomery County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.21
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Montgomery County
16.21
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
3.33
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Montgomery County
3.33
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Montgomery County
0
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Montgomery County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17135.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Montgomery County

10 departments report from this county.

LITCHFIELD FD
LITCHFIELD
FDID MP188 85 incidents 12 paid 30 vol
Nokomis VFD
—
FDID MP193 58 incidents
Hillsboro VFD
HILLSBORO
FDID MP168 41 incidents 5 paid
RaymondHarvel FPD
—
FDID MP214 37 incidents 35 vol
WITT VFD INC
Witt
FDID MP243 31 incidents 35 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.