In 2025, fire departments serving Beloit responded to 538 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,563 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $9.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 550 | — | |
| 2022 | 484 | -12.0% | |
| 2023 | 472 | -2.5% | |
| 2024 | 519 | +10.0% | |
| 2025 | 538 | +3.7% |
For the 103 building fires Beloit departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 505 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 | 74 | 14.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 51 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 47 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 33 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 33 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 20 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 19 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 19 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 17 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 16 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 176 | 34.9% |
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 Beloit mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 151 | 29.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 44 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 40 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 40 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 37 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 29 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 29 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 28 | 5.5% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 22 | 4.4% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 14 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 71 | 14.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Beloit departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $262,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $186,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $130,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Beloit sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
30 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 7 | |
| 30-39 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,526 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 33.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 254 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 169 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 139 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 100 | 38.2 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 Beloit. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Beloit.
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.