In 2025, fire departments serving Barneveld responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $125K 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.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
86 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $213K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022* | 10 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | — | |
| 2024 | 14 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 38 | +171.4% |
* Well below Barneveld'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 8 building fires Barneveld departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 28 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 | 10 | 35.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 3.6% |
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 Barneveld mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 39.3% | |
| 2 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 7 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 1 | 3.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Barneveld departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Barneveld sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,840 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 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 26.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 180 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 169 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 140 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 11.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 125 | 12.3 mi |
Top 3 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 Barneveld. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Barneveld.
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.