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2025 County Report

Fires in Putnam County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Putnam County responded to 96 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss.

3,526 residents FIPS 17155 10 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
96
320 across 5 years
Building fires
65
16 wildland
Property loss
$258K
$197K structure · $61K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 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 88% of all calls.

96
Total Incidents
Building fires 65 67.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 10 10.4%
Grass fire 4 4.2%
Fire, other 3 3.1%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 2 2.1%
All other categories 12 12.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Putnam County?

Oct peaks. Apr dips.

Jan 5
Feb 3
Mar 13
Apr 2
May 2
Jun 3
Jul 2
Aug 12
Sep 21
Oct 25
Nov 2
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Putnam County

320 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 86
2022 49
2023 45
2024 44
2025 96
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 65 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
60%
9
Cause undetermined
13%
2
Intentional / arson
7%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
2
Under investigation
7%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

7 fires · $197K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Putnam County during 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 McNabb Building fires Significant
2 $20,000 Putnam Building fires Significant
3 $15,000 Putnam Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
4 $10,000 Putnam Building fires Significant
5 $1,500 Putnam Arcing, shorted electrical equipment Significant
6 $150 Putnam Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
7 $50 Putnam Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
06 How Putnam County compares

Putnam County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

27.23
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Putnam County
27.23
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
18.43
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Putnam County
18.43
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Putnam County
0
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Putnam County

10 cities mapped to FIPS 17155.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Putnam County

4 departments report from this county.

STANDARD FPD
Standard
FDID PG163 21 incidents 22 vol
MCNABB FPD
—
FDID PG153 2 incidents
MAGNOLIA FD
Magnolia
FDID PG134 1 incidents 21 vol
Hennepin FPD
Hennepin
FDID PG123 0 incidents 24 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.