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2025 County Report

Fires in Vermilion County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Vermilion County responded to 1,091 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

54,293 residents FIPS 17183 68 cities · 20 fire depts
Total incidents
1,091
5,640 across 5 years
Building fires
188
126 wildland
Property loss
$4.4M
$3.2M structure · $1.2M contents
Casualties
1 / 4
1 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 2 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.

1,091
Total Incidents
Building fires 188 17.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 134 12.3%
Unauthorized burning 110 10.1%
Power line down 108 9.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 70 6.4%
All other categories 481 44.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Vermilion County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 99
Feb 77
Mar 178
Apr 102
May 107
Jun 112
Jul 87
Aug 85
Sep 89
Oct 66
Nov 59
Dec 30
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Vermilion County

5,640 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 901
2022 1,113
2023 1,289
2024 1,246
2025 1,091
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 188 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
34%
83
Cause undetermined
24%
57
Intentional / arson
17%
40
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
28
Under investigation
9%
21
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
9
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Vermilion County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 65% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 East Lynn Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
2 $500,000 Rankin Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $305,000 Danville Building fires Major
4 $150,000 hoopeston Fire, other Significant
5 $120,000 DANVILLE Building fires Significant
6 $120,000 Westville Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Henning Cultivated grain or crop fire Significant
8 $100,000 Danville Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 DANVILLE Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 Danville Building fires Significant
06 How Vermilion County compares

Vermilion County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

20.09
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Vermilion County
20.09
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
3.46
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Vermilion County
3.46
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
18.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
Vermilion County
18.4
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Vermilion County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17183.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Vermilion County

20 departments report from this county.

DANVILLE FD
—
FDID VA161 291 incidents 60 paid
WESTVILLE AREA FPD
WESTVILLE
FDID VA313 173 incidents
Bismarck Comm FPD
—
FDID VA134 99 incidents 60 vol
TILTON FD
tilton
FDID VA304 97 incidents 40 vol
HOOPESTON VFD
—
FDID VA213 92 incidents
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.