In 2025, fire departments serving Amherst responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 88% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
95 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $884K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 15 | — | |
| 2022* | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | — | |
| 2024 | 33 | +57.1% | |
| 2025 | 17 | -48.5% |
* Well below Amherst'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 0 building fires Amherst departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 39 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 | 7 | 17.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 12.8% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 12.8% |
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 Amherst mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 12.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Amherst sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,801 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 3,410 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 572 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 385 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 366 | 35.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 320 | 31.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 15.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 275 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 262 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 234 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 187 | 34.7 mi |
Top 4 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 Amherst. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Amherst.
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.