In 2025, fire departments serving Fairchild responded to 14 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 93% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
93 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $629K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 | — | |
| 2022 | 19 | +35.7% | |
| 2023 | 14 | -26.3% | |
| 2024 | 32 | +128.6% | |
| 2025 | 14 | -56.2% |
For the 5 building fires Fairchild departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Fairchild mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 53.3% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fairchild departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fairchild sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,389 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 | 38.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 553 | 9.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Fireworks | 390 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 32.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | 250 | 7.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 159 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 124 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 113 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 104 | 7.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 93 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 89 | 13.7 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 54741 | 93 |
Six Wisconsin cities with population within ±25% of Fairchild. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fairchild.
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.