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2025 County Report

Fires in Pope County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Pope County responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $85K property loss.

884 residents FIPS 17151 31 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
27
137 across 5 years
Building fires
5
11 wildland
Property loss
$215K
$185K structure · $30K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.

27
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 9 33.3%
Building fires 5 18.5%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 2 7.4%
Natural vegetation fire, other 2 7.4%
Power line down 2 7.4%
All other categories 7 25.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Pope County?

Aug peaks. May dips.

Jan 3
Feb 4
Mar 5
Apr 1
May 0
Jun 0
Jul 2
Aug 6
Sep 3
Oct 0
Nov 1
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Pope County

137 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 22
2022 32
2023 22
2024 34
2025 27
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 5 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
17%
1
Cause undetermined
50%
3
Intentional / arson
17%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
17%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $185K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Pope County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $85,000 Golconda Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
2 $85,000 Golconda Building fires Significant
3 $15,000 Golconda Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Pope County compares

Pope County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

30.54
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Pope County
30.54
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
5.66
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Pope County
5.66
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Pope County
0
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Pope County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17151.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Pope County

2 departments report from this county.

RURAL POPE COUNTY FPD
—
FDID PE128 30 incidents 15 vol
Golconda FD
—
FDID PE114 0 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.