In 2025, fire departments serving Boyd responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 86% of all calls.
May peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
57 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $703K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 13 | +18.2% | |
| 2025 | 14 | +7.7% |
* Well below Boyd'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 6 building fires Boyd departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 2 | Other | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Function area, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Boyd mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 47.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Match | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Boyd departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Boyd sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,651 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 553 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Fireworks | 390 | 35.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | 250 | 16.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 124 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 113 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 104 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 89 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 75 | 28.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 74 | 33.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 65 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 62 | 37.1 mi |
Top 4 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 Boyd. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Boyd.
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.