In 2025, fire departments serving Arlington responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
93 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 32 | — | |
| 2023 | 25 | -21.9% | |
| 2024 | 20 | -20.0% | |
| 2025 | 14 | -30.0% |
* Well below Arlington'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 2 building fires Arlington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Arlington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 4 | Sunlight | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Arlington departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Arlington sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,803 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,400 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 27.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 829 | 40.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 34.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 572 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 13.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 484 | 17.1 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 Arlington. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Arlington.
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.