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2025 County Report

Fires in Sangamon County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Sangamon County responded to 2,193 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.5M property loss.

164,658 residents FIPS 17167 62 cities · 16 fire depts
Total incidents
2,193
9,730 across 5 years
Building fires
357
205 wildland
Property loss
$17.1M
$12.3M structure · $4.8M contents
Casualties
1 / 23
1 civ deaths · 7 civ inj · 16 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.

2,193
Total Incidents
Building fires 357 16.3%
Carbon monoxide incident 199 9.1%
Power line down 187 8.5%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 184 8.4%
Unauthorized burning 164 7.5%
All other categories 1,102 50.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Sangamon County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 121
Feb 135
Mar 315
Apr 160
May 148
Jun 155
Jul 200
Aug 191
Sep 236
Oct 232
Nov 196
Dec 104
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Sangamon County

9,730 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,835
2022 1,633
2023 2,242
2024 1,827
2025 2,193
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 357 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
45%
286
Cause undetermined
17%
108
Intentional / arson
21%
137
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
52
Under investigation
6%
38
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
12
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $4.8M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Sangamon County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 39% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,500,000 springfield Building fires Major
2 $500,000 Springfield Building fires Major
3 $500,000 CHATHAM Building fires Major
4 $450,000 NEW BERLIN Building fires Major
5 $375,000 Loami Building fires Major
6 $350,000 New Berlin Building fires Major
7 $300,000 Springfield Building fires Major
8 $300,000 Chatham Building fires Major
9 $250,000 Springfield Building fires Major
10 $250,000 Pleasant Plains Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
06 How Sangamon County compares

Sangamon County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.32
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Sangamon County
13.32
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
2.17
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Sangamon County
2.17
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
6.1
Civilian fire deaths per million
Sangamon County
6.1
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Sangamon County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17167.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Sangamon County

16 departments report from this county.

Springfield FD
—
FDID SB111 1,643 incidents 205 paid
Chatham Comm FPD
—
FDID SB148 67 incidents 31 vol
MECHANICSBURG FPD
Mechanicsburg
FDID SB203 55 incidents 23 vol
AUBURN FPD
—
FDID SB123 51 incidents
Dawson VFPD
—
FDID SB154 51 incidents 19 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.