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2025 County Report

Fires in Wabash County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Wabash County responded to 80 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss.

7,875 residents FIPS 17185 11 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
80
380 across 5 years
Building fires
23
11 wildland
Property loss
$1.1M
$1.1M structure · $41K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 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 50% of all calls.

80
Total Incidents
Building fires 23 28.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 6 7.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 5 6.2%
Fire, other 3 3.8%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 3 3.8%
All other categories 40 50.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Wabash County?

Mar peaks. May dips.

Jan 7
Feb 6
Mar 11
Apr 11
May 3
Jun 7
Jul 9
Aug 3
Sep 6
Oct 9
Nov 4
Dec 4
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Wabash County

380 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 77
2022 70
2023 74
2024 79
2025 80
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 23 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
43%
20
Cause undetermined
15%
7
Intentional / arson
15%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
7
Under investigation
11%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

8 fires · $1.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Wabash County during 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 MT CARMEL Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
2 $35,000 MT CARMEL Building fires Significant
3 $10,000 Mt Carmel Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other Significant
4 $10,000 Mt Carmel Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $5,000 Mt Carmel Building fires Significant
6 $2,500 MT CARMEL Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $2,000 Bellmont Building fires Significant
8 $1,000 Mt Carmel Building fires Significant
06 How Wabash County compares

Wabash County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.16
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Wabash County
10.16
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
2.92
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Wabash County
2.92
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Wabash County
0
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Wabash County

11 cities mapped to FIPS 17185.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Wabash County

3 departments report from this county.

MT CARMEL FD
—
FDID WA132 57 incidents 4 paid
Allendale FPD
Allendale
FDID WA118 12 incidents 25 vol
BELLMONT FPD
Bellmont
FDID WA123 9 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.