In 2025, fire departments serving Howards Grove responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K 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 100% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
42 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $5K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022 | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 10 | +66.7% | |
| 2024 | 8 | -20.0% | |
| 2025 | 13 | +62.5% |
* Well below Howards Grove'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 7 building fires Howards Grove departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13 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 | Outside area, other | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 7.7% |
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 Howards Grove mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Howards Grove departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Howards Grove sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,495 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 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 829 | 47.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 508 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 366 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 360 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 325 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 280 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 49.1 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 53083 | 42 |
Six Wisconsin cities with population within ±25% of Howards Grove. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Howards Grove.
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.