In 2025, fire departments serving Fitchburg responded to 139 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $475K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
656 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 125 | — | |
| 2022 | 116 | -7.2% | |
| 2023 | 133 | +14.7% | |
| 2024 | 143 | +7.5% | |
| 2025 | 139 | -2.8% |
For the 14 building fires Fitchburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 207 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 | 83 | 40.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 13 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 11 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Other | 7 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 33 | 15.9% |
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 Fitchburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 55 | 26.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 35 | 16.9% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 33 | 15.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 17 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 8 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fitchburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $475,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $48,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $42,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $18,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $13,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fitchburg sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,924 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,400 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 24.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 11.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 484 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 254 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 33.7 mi |
Top 5 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 Fitchburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fitchburg.
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.