In 2025, fire departments serving Ettrick responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 91% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
81 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $71K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 31 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | -32.3% | |
| 2023* | 5 | — | |
| 2024 | 13 | — | |
| 2025 | 11 | -15.4% |
* Well below Ettrick'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 2 building fires Ettrick departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 25 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 | 17 | 68.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 4.0% |
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 Ettrick mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 20 | 80.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ettrick departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ettrick sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,620 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 | 7.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 553 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 5.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 295 | 33.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | 250 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 195 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 166 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 159 | 25.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 124 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 124 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 104 | 40.1 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 Ettrick. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ettrick.
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.