In 2025, fire departments serving Eleva responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 92% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
76 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 10 | -37.5% | |
| 2023* | 8 | — | |
| 2024 | 30 | — | |
| 2025 | 12 | -60.0% |
* Well below Eleva'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 4 building fires Eleva departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Eleva mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 6 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Eleva departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Eleva sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,618 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 | 29.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 553 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Fireworks | 390 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 32.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 295 | 31.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | 250 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 159 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 148 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 124 | 6.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 6.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 104 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 89 | 34.9 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 Eleva. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Eleva.
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.