In 2025, fire departments serving Beaver Dam responded to 131 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $105K 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 63% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
574 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 90 | — | |
| 2022 | 121 | +34.4% | |
| 2023 | 110 | -9.1% | |
| 2024 | 122 | +10.9% | |
| 2025 | 131 | +7.4% |
For the 41 building fires Beaver Dam departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 152 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 | 32 | 21.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 24 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 11 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 7 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 7 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Exterior, exposed surface | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 44 | 28.9% |
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 Beaver Dam mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 37 | 24.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 26 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 18 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 8 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 21 | 13.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Beaver Dam departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $105,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Beaver Dam sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,917 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 | 15.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 10.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 829 | 17.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 17.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 8.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 572 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 508 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 484 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 385 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 8.0 mi |
Top 6 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 Beaver Dam. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Beaver Dam.
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.