In 2025, fire departments serving Hilbert responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2K 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 65% of all calls.
Aug peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
122 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $292K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 27 | — | |
| 2022* | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 15 | — | |
| 2024 | 45 | +200.0% | |
| 2025 | 26 | -42.2% |
* Well below Hilbert'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 5 building fires Hilbert departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Hilbert mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Candle | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hilbert departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hilbert sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,973 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 829 | 42.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 508 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 385 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 366 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 325 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 320 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 280 | 50.0 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 Hilbert. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hilbert.
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.