In 2025, fire departments serving Cascade responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
70 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $408K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 8 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 20 | +81.8% | |
| 2025 | 29 | +45.0% |
* Well below Cascade'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 Cascade 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 | Outside area, other | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 11.8% |
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 Cascade mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cascade departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $500 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $300 | Cultivated grain or crop fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cascade sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,011 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 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 829 | 37.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 508 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 360 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 325 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 280 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 36.9 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 | 53011 | 70 |
Six Wisconsin cities with population within ±25% of Cascade. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cascade.
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.