In 2025, fire departments serving Altoona responded to 33 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 82% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
176 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $814K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 31 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | -19.4% | |
| 2023 | 40 | +60.0% | |
| 2024 | 47 | +17.5% | |
| 2025 | 33 | -29.8% |
For the 13 building fires Altoona departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 40 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 6 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 4 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Wall assembly | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 17.5% |
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 Altoona mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 35.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 2.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Altoona departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Vehicle accident, general cleanup | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $4,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Altoona sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
5 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,533 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 45.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 553 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Fireworks | 390 | 16.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 295 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | 250 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 148 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 124 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 9.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 113 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 104 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 89 | 40.4 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 54720 | 176 |
Six Wisconsin cities with population within ±25% of Altoona. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Altoona.
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.