In 2025, fire departments serving Hobart responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
36 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $4K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 6 | -45.5% | |
| 2023* | 3 | — | |
| 2024 | 6 | — | |
| 2025 | 10 | +66.7% |
* Well below Hobart'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 6 building fires Hobart departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 5 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 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 1 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 20.0% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 1 | 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 Hobart mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 80.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 20.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hobart sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,939 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 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 385 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 366 | 29.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 320 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 275 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 262 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 140 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 133 | 34.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 123 | 48.7 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 Hobart. 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.