Librarian
IFSI Library Information
Library Hours:
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Monday - Friday
Special operating hours may be held during events.
IFSI Library Staff:
Lian Ruan, Head Librarian: lruan@illinois.edu
Diane Richardson, Reference & User Training Librarian: dlrichar@illinois.edu
David Ehrenhart, Assistant Director for Library Operations: ehrenha1@illinois.edu
IFSI Library Facebook:
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The LA County Wildfires of 2025 began burning as this LibGuide was under construction
This LibGuide addresses a series of wildfires and wildfire events that occurred in the United States in the 21st century. Wildfires were selected for this LibGuide based primarily on 3 factors:
1) Occurred on or after January 1st, 2000. For earlier wildfires, see the Significant Wildfires in US History LibGuide.
2) Noted on the Wildland Fire Statistics page maintained by the NFPA that lists wildland fires that burned 500,000 or more acres, resulted in 10 or more fatalities, or were among the 20 most costly in US history. All of the fires (or in the case of multi-fire events, at least one of the constituent fires) discussed in this LibGuide are on the Wildland Fire Statistics page as of December 2024.
3) Represented by relevant material in the IFSI Library collection. An exception to this is the Lahaina or Maui Fire of 2023, which has several excellent online resources describing and analyzing the fire and surrounding events and is included in the LibGuide to illustrate that wildfires are not confined to the lower 48 states.
These fires all resulted in loss of life or property and some involved firefighter line of duty deaths. This LibGuide aims to provide readers with a brief overview of the relevant facts and point them to reliable sources for future learning.
About the IFSI Library
The Illinois Fire Service Institute Library contains books, codes and standards, DVDs, CDs, periodicals, manuals, e-resources, audiobooks, and other fire emergency resources, totaling over 65,000 items. We serve all first responders in the state of Illinois. Materials can be requested in person, by phone or email, or online through our catalog. You can search our catalog by title, author, keyword, subject, or publisher, and choose the formats you want to see. Enter as few or as many search terms as you would like; the more search terms you use the fewer results you'll get, but the results will be more specific. If you live in Illinois and have a public library card, we can send materials to your public library via interlibrary loan. Anyone is also welcome to visit us in person!
IFSI Library Lending Policies
Local Lending (Illinois Residents Only)
- The checkout period is 4 weeks.
- Extensions are considered individually.
- Pick up requested materials at the library circulation desk.
- Bring your photo ID to set up a lending account.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
- The checkout period is 6 weeks.
- IFSI can send materials directly to your local public library through Interlibrary Loan.
- You must have a public library card.
- It may take up to two weeks for items to arrive.