In 2025, fire departments serving Delavan responded to 143 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
May peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
888 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 167 | — | |
| 2022 | 152 | -9.0% | |
| 2023 | 213 | +40.1% | |
| 2024 | 213 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 143 | -32.9% |
For the 7 building fires Delavan departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 139 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 | 19 | 13.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 14 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 10.1% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Egress/exit, other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 43 | 30.9% |
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 Delavan mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 55 | 39.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 21 | 15.1% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 9 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 8 | 5.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Match | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 8.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Delavan departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,500 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Delavan sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,809 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 750 | 45.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 254 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 180 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 169 | 34.6 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 Delavan. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Delavan.
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.