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2025 County Report

Fires in Washington County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Washington County responded to 155 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $400K property loss.

8,106 residents FIPS 17189 32 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
155
706 across 5 years
Building fires
41
30 wildland
Property loss
$2.6M
$1.8M structure · $776K contents
Casualties
0 / 4
0 civ deaths · 4 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 56% of all calls.

155
Total Incidents
Building fires 41 26.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 17 11.0%
Power line down 12 7.7%
Grass fire 9 5.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 8 5.2%
All other categories 68 43.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Washington County?

Mar peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 14
Feb 8
Mar 24
Apr 19
May 14
Jun 11
Jul 6
Aug 11
Sep 15
Oct 18
Nov 6
Dec 9
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Washington County

706 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 104
2022 150
2023 130
2024 167
2025 155
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 41 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
46%
28
Cause undetermined
21%
13
Intentional / arson
11%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
7
Under investigation
10%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Washington County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 88% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $400,000 Okawville Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
2 $300,000 Nashville Fire, other Major
3 $250,000 WAMAC Building fires Major
4 $120,000 Ashley Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $100,000 Ashley Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 NAshville Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Nashville Building fires Significant
8 $75,000 hOYLETON Building fires Significant
9 $75,000 Nashville Building fires Significant
10 $75,000 ASHLEY Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Washington County compares

Washington County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

19.12
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Washington County
19.12
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
5.06
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Washington County
5.06
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Washington County
0
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Washington County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17189.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Washington County

6 departments report from this county.

Nashville VFD
NASHVILLE
FDID WC153 49 incidents
ASHLEY FPD
—
FDID WC123 25 incidents
HOYLETON FPD
—
FDID WC133 22 incidents
ADDIEVILLE VFPD
—
FDID WC113 19 incidents
OKAWVILLE FPD
Okawville
FDID WC173 8 incidents 36 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.