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2025 County Report

Fires in White County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving White County responded to 116 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

9,782 residents FIPS 17193 23 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
116
655 across 5 years
Building fires
30
35 wildland
Property loss
$981K
$595K structure · $386K contents
Casualties
1 / 6
1 civ deaths · 6 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 63% of all calls.

116
Total Incidents
Building fires 30 25.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 17 14.7%
Grass fire 13 11.2%
Fire, other 7 6.0%
Passenger vehicle fire 6 5.2%
All other categories 43 37.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in White County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 9
Feb 9
Mar 32
Apr 8
May 15
Jun 4
Jul 6
Aug 7
Sep 13
Oct 6
Nov 5
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in White County

655 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 121
2022 143
2023 143
2024 132
2025 116
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 30 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
53%
26
Cause undetermined
20%
10
Intentional / arson
12%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
2
Under investigation
6%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $498K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in White County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 84% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Norris City Building fires Significant
2 $80,000 Grayville Building fires Significant
3 $75,000 Carmi Building fires Significant
4 $60,000 Norris City Building fires Significant
5 $60,000 Norris City Building fires Significant
6 $40,000 Norris city Building fires Significant
7 $25,000 Carmi Building fires Significant
8 $20,000 Grayville Fire, other Significant
9 $20,000 Norris city Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $18,000 Grayville Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How White County compares

White County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.86
Incidents per 1,000 residents
White County
11.86
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
3.07
Building fires per 1,000 residents
White County
3.07
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
102.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
White County
102.2
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in White County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17193.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in White County

5 departments report from this county.

Carmi FireEMA
Carmi
FDID WE113 39 incidents
NORRIS CITY FPD
—
FDID WE164 36 incidents
CROSSVILLE FD
—
FDID WE124 14 incidents 20 vol
ENFIELD FPD
—
FDID WE138 13 incidents
Little Wabash FD
Grayville
FDID WE144 10 incidents 15 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.