Home› Counties› IL› Shelby County
2025 County Report

Fires in Shelby County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Shelby County responded to 188 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

11,227 residents FIPS 17173 31 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
188
900 across 5 years
Building fires
48
29 wildland
Property loss
$2.4M
$1.1M structure · $1.2M contents
Casualties
2 / 1
2 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

188
Total Incidents
Building fires 48 25.5%
Fire, other 23 12.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 17 9.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 13 6.9%
Grass fire 8 4.3%
All other categories 79 42.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Shelby County?

Sep peaks. May dips.

Jan 9
Feb 16
Mar 39
Apr 10
May 3
Jun 6
Jul 19
Aug 10
Sep 45
Oct 18
Nov 8
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Shelby County

900 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 116
2022 179
2023 218
2024 199
2025 188
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 48 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
45%
24
Cause undetermined
26%
14
Intentional / arson
2%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
8
Under investigation
8%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $920K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Shelby County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 82% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Stewardson Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 cowden Fire, other Significant
3 $100,000 Moweaqua Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Shelbyville Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Shelbyville Building fires Significant
6 $80,000 Shelbyville Building fires Significant
7 $75,000 Strasburg Outside storage fire Significant
8 $75,000 Stewardson Outside storage fire Significant
9 $50,000 Westervelt Building fires Significant
10 $40,000 findlay Building fires Significant
06 How Shelby County compares

Shelby County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.75
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Shelby County
16.75
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
4.28
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Shelby County
4.28
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
178.1
Civilian fire deaths per million
Shelby County
178.1
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Shelby County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17173.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Shelby County

11 departments report from this county.

SHELBYVILLE FPD
—
FDID SE152 67 incidents 5 paid
FINDLAY FPD
—
FDID SE128 25 incidents 23 vol
Moweaqua Comm FPD
Moweaqua
FDID SE144 22 incidents
SIGEL FPD
—
FDID SE164 21 incidents 29 vol
Stewardson FPD
—
FDID SE173 19 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.