In 2025, fire departments serving Elkhorn responded to 179 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 69% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
674 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 148 | — | |
| 2022 | 173 | +16.9% | |
| 2023* | 73 | — | |
| 2024 | 101 | — | |
| 2025 | 179 | +77.2% |
* Well below Elkhorn'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 61 building fires Elkhorn departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 166 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 34 | 20.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 31 | 18.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 13 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Wall assembly | 9 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 8 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 40 | 24.1% |
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 Elkhorn mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 65 | 39.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 19 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 11 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Chemical reaction | 7 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 13.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Elkhorn departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Vehicle accident, general cleanup | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Elkhorn sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
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 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 750 | 41.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 254 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 180 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 169 | 38.7 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 Elkhorn. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Elkhorn.
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.