In 2025, fire departments serving Dresser responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $700K 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 71% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
63 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | +16.7% | |
| 2024 | 14 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 17 | +21.4% |
* Well below Dresser'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 7 building fires Dresser departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 23 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 | 5 | 21.7% | |
| 2 | Structural area, other | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 17.4% |
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 Dresser mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 8.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dresser departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $700,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $700,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dresser sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,746 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 8,513 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,350 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 835 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 656 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 358 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 335 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 298 | 44.8 mi |
Top 2 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 Dresser. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dresser.
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.