In 2025, fire departments serving Forestville responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 75% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
83 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $310K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | +5.9% | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 18 | — | |
| 2025 | 24 | +33.3% |
* Well below Forestville'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 8 building fires Forestville 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Function area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 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 Forestville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Match | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Forestville departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Forestville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,305 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 23.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 88 | 34.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 85 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 53 | 34.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 43 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 41 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 39 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 36 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 34 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 34 | 47.2 mi |
Top 4 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 Forestville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Forestville.
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.