In 2025, fire departments serving Fox Point responded to 36 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 78% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
181 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $136K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 67 | — | |
| 2022 | 27 | -59.7% | |
| 2023 | 31 | +14.8% | |
| 2024* | 20 | — | |
| 2025 | 36 | — |
* Well below Fox Point'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 1 building fires Fox Point 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 7 | Assembly area - less than 100 persons | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 20.0% |
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 Fox Point mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 32.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Candle | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fox Point departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $8,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fox Point sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,575 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 360 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 325 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 280 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 180 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 138 | 49.3 mi |
Top 6 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 Fox Point. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.