In 2025, fire departments serving Bayside responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $44K 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 63% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
125 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $65K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 35 | — | |
| 2022 | 24 | -31.4% | |
| 2023 | 37 | +54.2% | |
| 2024* | 10 | — | |
| 2025 | 19 | — |
* Well below Bayside'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 Bayside departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 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 | 5 | 23.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 6 | Assembly or sales area, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Assembly area without fixed seats - 100+ persons | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 9.5% |
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 Bayside mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 61.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bayside departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $44,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bayside sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,571 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 47.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 360 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 325 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 280 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 180 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 138 | 48.7 mi |
Top 7 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 Bayside. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.