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2025 County Report

Fires in Union County, FL

In 2025, fire departments serving Union County responded to 86 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

539 residents FIPS 12125 10 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
86
465 across 5 years
Building fires
0
25 wildland
Property loss
$486K
$313K structure · $173K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Trash or rubbish fire, contained lead by count. Top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.

86
Total Incidents
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 15 17.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 13 15.1%
Grass fire 8 9.3%
Power line down 7 8.1%
Fire, other 6 7.0%
All other categories 37 43.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Union County?

Feb peaks. Apr dips.

Jan 10
Feb 12
Mar 11
Apr 2
May 3
Jun 7
Jul 7
Aug 2
Sep 9
Oct 4
Nov 11
Dec 8
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Union County

465 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 176
2022 81
2023 31
2024 91
2025 86
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 0 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
56%
10
Cause undetermined
22%
4
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
11%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $313K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Union County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 lake butler Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Major
2 $20,000 lake butler Fire, other Significant
3 $10,000 LAKR BUTLER Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $10,000 LAKE BUTLER Fire, other Significant
5 $10,000 LAKE BUTLER Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
6 $5,000 Lake Butler Fire, other Significant
7 $5,000 LAKE BUTLER Trash or rubbish fire, contained Significant
8 $1,000 LAKE BUTLER Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $1,000 lake butler Outside storage fire Significant
10 $1,000 LAKE BUTLER Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
06 How Union County compares

Union County vs FL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

159.55
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Union County
159.55
FL avg
5.32
US avg
7.15
0
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Union County
0
FL avg
0.42
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Union County
0
FL avg
4.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Union County

10 cities mapped to FIPS 12125.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Union County

2 departments report from this county.

UNION COUNTY VOL FIRE DEPT
lake butler
FDID 63012 73 incidents 35 vol
WORTHINGTON SPRINGS VFD
—
FDID 63031 0 incidents 10 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in FL

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 DOF Prarie Fire 2011 NPS 68,028
2 CP3 RX 2021 NPS 66,918
3 Buzzard 2018 NPS 62,454
4 Tarpon (BIL) 2023 NPS 52,542
5 CP-2 Exotics (BIL) 2023 NPS 49,703
6 EVER CP3 Exotics Rx 2024 NPS 47,986
7 ROG-South (BIL) 2023 NPS 47,619
8 ROG-South/Southern Glades 2020 NPS 43,751
9 BICY Kirby Rx FY24 2024 NPS 39,765
10 Mustang Corner 2008 NPS 39,423

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.