In 2025, fire departments serving Belgium responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
145 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $10K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 26 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | -3.8% | |
| 2023 | 50 | +100.0% | |
| 2024* | 10 | — | |
| 2025 | 34 | — |
* Well below Belgium'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 4 building fires Belgium departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 27 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 | 10 | 37.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 3.7% |
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 Belgium mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 44.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 18.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Belgium sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,634 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 829 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 508 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 360 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 325 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 280 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 180 | 45.7 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 53004 | 142 |
Six Wisconsin cities with population within ±25% of Belgium. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Belgium.
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.