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2025 County Report

Fires in Richland County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Richland County responded to 117 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $50K property loss.

10,520 residents FIPS 17159 14 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
117
557 across 5 years
Building fires
30
18 wildland
Property loss
$140K
$114K structure · $26K 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 56% of all calls.

117
Total Incidents
Building fires 30 25.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 14 12.0%
Passenger vehicle fire 7 6.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 7 6.0%
Carbon monoxide incident 7 6.0%
All other categories 52 44.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Richland County?

Apr peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 10
Feb 2
Mar 16
Apr 17
May 9
Jun 12
Jul 6
Aug 7
Sep 12
Oct 7
Nov 8
Dec 11
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Richland County

557 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 86
2022 97
2023 127
2024 130
2025 117
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 30 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
48%
19
Cause undetermined
22%
9
Intentional / arson
10%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
3
Under investigation
2%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
10%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $112K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Richland County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $50,000 OLNEY Building fires Significant
2 $15,000 OLNEY Building fires Significant
3 $15,000 OLNEY Building fires Significant
4 $10,000 OLNEY Building fires Significant
5 $6,000 OLNEY Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $4,500 OLNEY Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $4,500 OLNEY Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $3,000 OLNEY Building fires Significant
9 $2,000 DUNDAS Building fires Significant
10 $1,500 OLNEY Building fires Significant
06 How Richland County compares

Richland County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.12
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Richland County
11.12
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
2.85
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Richland County
2.85
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Richland County
0
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Richland County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17159.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Richland County

3 departments report from this county.

OLNEY FD
—
FDID RB142 103 incidents 4 paid
CLAREMONTBONPAS FD
—
FDID RB124 6 incidents 24 vol
Noble Wakefield FPD
—
FDID RB134 0 incidents 25 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.