In 2025, fire departments serving Eau Claire responded to 510 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $654K 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 54% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,502 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $13.9M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 500 | — | |
| 2022 | 521 | +4.2% | |
| 2023 | 477 | -8.4% | |
| 2024 | 494 | +3.6% | |
| 2025 | 510 | +3.2% |
For the 55 building fires Eau Claire departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 677 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 | 100 | 14.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 100 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 51 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 37 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 35 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 34 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 34 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Other | 26 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 26 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 23 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 211 | 31.2% |
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 Eau Claire mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 209 | 30.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 83 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 73 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 45 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 43 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 32 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 31 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 23 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 18 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 99 | 14.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Eau Claire departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 72% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $654,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $577,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $224,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $160,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Eau Claire sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
44 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 9 | |
| 30-39 | 14 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 6 | |
| 60-69 | 5 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,611 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 553 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Fireworks | 390 | 13.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 295 | 44.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | 250 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 148 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 124 | 10.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 123 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 10.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 113 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 104 | 34.1 mi |
Top 7 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 Eau Claire. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Eau Claire.
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.