In 2025, fire departments serving Blair responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $600K building blaze. 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.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
127 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $861K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 32 | — | |
| 2022 | 28 | -12.5% | |
| 2023 | 28 | +0.0% | |
| 2024* | 14 | — | |
| 2025 | 25 | — |
* Well below Blair'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 3 building fires Blair departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 37 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 | 6 | 16.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 6 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 6 | 16.2% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Structural area, other | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 18.9% |
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 Blair mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 21.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 18.9% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 8.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Blair departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $14,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $11,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $4,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Blair sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,734 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 13.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 553 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Fireworks | 390 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 10.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 295 | 34.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | 250 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 195 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 159 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 124 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 104 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 93 | 31.4 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 | 54616 | 127 |
Six Wisconsin cities with population within ±25% of Blair. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Blair.
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.