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2025 County Report

Fires in Wayne County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Wayne County responded to 159 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

7,065 residents FIPS 17191 25 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
159
681 across 5 years
Building fires
47
27 wildland
Property loss
$343K
$335K structure · $9K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 civ deaths · 0 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 62% of all calls.

159
Total Incidents
Building fires 47 29.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 17 10.7%
Grass fire 13 8.2%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 11 6.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 11 6.9%
All other categories 60 37.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Wayne County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 16
Feb 16
Mar 32
Apr 13
May 6
Jun 14
Jul 11
Aug 8
Sep 5
Oct 11
Nov 13
Dec 14
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Wayne County

681 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 91
2022 129
2023 158
2024 144
2025 159
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 47 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
55%
46
Cause undetermined
10%
8
Intentional / arson
7%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
8
Under investigation
18%
15
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

8 fires · $335K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Cisne Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
2 $50,000 cisne Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
3 $42,000 Cisne Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
4 $16,000 Cisne Building fires Significant
5 $15,000 Cisne Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
6 $5,000 Mount Erie Building fires Significant
7 $4,000 Keenes Outside storage fire Significant
8 $2,500 Fairfield Building fires Significant
06 How Wayne County compares

Wayne County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

22.51
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Wayne County
22.51
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
6.65
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Wayne County
6.65
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
141.5
Civilian fire deaths per million
Wayne County
141.5
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Wayne County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17191.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Wayne County

5 departments report from this county.

Fairfield City FD
—
FDID WD122 56 incidents 4 paid
FAIRFIELD RURAL FPD
Fairfield
FDID WD154 55 incidents 28 vol
Wayne FPD 1
—
FDID WD143 41 incidents
BEDFORD TWP FPD
—
FDID WD113 18 incidents 1 paid
Orchardville FPD
—
FDID WD174 12 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.