In 2025, fire departments serving Green Lake responded to 18 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 72% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
84 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $304K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 21 | — | |
| 2022 | 20 | -4.8% | |
| 2023 | 16 | -20.0% | |
| 2024* | 9 | — | |
| 2025 | 18 | — |
* Well below Green Lake'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 3 building fires Green Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 23 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 | 13 | 56.5% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Sales area, showroom (exclude display window) | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 1 | 4.3% |
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 Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 2 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 8.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Green Lake 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. Green Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,137 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 3,410 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 41.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 829 | 13.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 13.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 572 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 508 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 484 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 385 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 366 | 31.8 mi |
Top 3 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 Lake. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Green Lake.
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.