In 2025, fire departments serving De Pere responded to 161 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 61% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
767 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 122 | — | |
| 2022 | 153 | +25.4% | |
| 2023 | 165 | +7.8% | |
| 2024 | 166 | +0.6% | |
| 2025 | 161 | -3.0% |
For the 38 building fires De Pere departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 160 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 29 | 18.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 13 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 8 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 7 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 51 | 31.9% |
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 De Pere mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 39 | 24.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 27 | 16.9% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 10 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 9 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 25 | 15.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by De Pere departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. De Pere sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,157 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 508 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 385 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 366 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 320 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 275 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 262 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 140 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 133 | 40.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 123 | 49.6 mi |
Top 6 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 De Pere. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in De Pere.
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.