In 2025, fire departments serving Almena responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $8K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
49 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $195K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 10 | -37.5% | |
| 2023* | 3 | — | |
| 2024 | 10 | — | |
| 2025 | 10 | +0.0% |
* Well below Almena'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 1 building fires Almena departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | Undetermined | 6 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 27.8% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Almena mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 61.1% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Almena departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Almena sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,665 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,350 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 656 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Fireworks | 390 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 170 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 153 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 148 | 27.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 140 | 6.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 123 | 24.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 120 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 113 | 41.6 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 Almena. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Almena.
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.