In 2025, fire departments serving Green Bay responded to 575 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,052 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $13.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 605 | — | |
| 2022 | 663 | +9.6% | |
| 2023 | 571 | -13.9% | |
| 2024 | 638 | +11.7% | |
| 2025 | 575 | -9.9% |
For the 63 building fires Green Bay departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 987 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 | 257 | 26.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 121 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 67 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 49 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 40 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 32 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 27 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 26 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 25 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 25 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 318 | 32.2% |
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 Green Bay mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 292 | 29.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 154 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 110 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 73 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 50 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 43 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 43 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 43 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 30 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 23 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 126 | 12.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Green Bay departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 48% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $101,900 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $68,900 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Green Bay sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
81 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 9 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,161 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 385 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 366 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 320 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 275 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 133 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 100 | 26.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 85 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 33.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 65 | 26.0 mi |
Top 10 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 Green Bay. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Green Bay.
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.