In 2025, fire departments serving DeForest responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
53 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $158K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 18 | — | |
| 2024 | 12 | -33.3% | |
| 2025 | 14 | +16.7% |
* Well below DeForest'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 10 building fires DeForest departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 7 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 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 3 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 1 | 14.3% |
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 DeForest mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 14.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. DeForest sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,381 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,400 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 25.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 829 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 6.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 484 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 38.6 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 DeForest. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.