In 2025, fire departments serving Will County responded to 4,954 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $10.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips.
22,520 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 4,203 | |
| 2022 | 3,975 | |
| 2023 | 4,312 | |
| 2024 | 5,076 | |
| 2025 | 4,954 |
For the 687 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Will County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 60% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000,000 | Joliet | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $2,500,000 | Manhattan | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major |
| 3 | $928,200 | CHANNAHON | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $800,000 | Rockdale | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $750,000 | BOLINGBROOK | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $750,000 | CHANNAHON | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $500,000 | JOLIET | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $400,000 | Elwood | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $400,000 | LEMONT | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $400,000 | ROCKDALE | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 17197.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Joliet | 150,221 | View › |
| Bolingbrook | 73,755 | View › |
| Plainfield | 44,941 | View › |
| Romeoville | 40,132 | View › |
| New Lenox | 27,242 | View › |
| Lockport | 26,119 | View › |
| Homer Glen | 24,507 | View › |
| Frankfort | 20,260 | View › |
| Mokena | 19,886 | View › |
| Crest Hill | 19,886 | View › |
| Shorewood | 18,109 | View › |
| Channahon | 13,807 | View › |
26 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.