In 2025, fire departments serving Algoma responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $800K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
158 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 | — | |
| 2022 | 44 | +51.7% | |
| 2023* | 18 | — | |
| 2024 | 29 | — | |
| 2025 | 38 | +31.0% |
* Well below Algoma's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 15 building fires Algoma departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 54 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 14.8% | |
| 2 | Other | 5 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 29.6% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Algoma mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 8 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 5 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Algoma departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $800,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Algoma sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,278 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 28.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 88 | 39.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 85 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 53 | 40.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 43 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 41 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 39 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 36 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 34 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 32 | 33.8 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Wisconsin cities with population within ±25% of Algoma. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Algoma.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.