In 2025, fire departments serving Iron River responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 69% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
71 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $195K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022 | 16 | — | |
| 2023* | 8 | — | |
| 2024 | 23 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | -30.4% |
* Well below Iron River'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 4 building fires Iron River departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 14 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 | Undetermined | 8 | 57.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Light shaft | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 7.1% |
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 Iron River mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 71.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Iron River departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Iron River sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,285 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Equipment and vehicle use | 7,499 | 23.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,167 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 487 | 38.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 258 | 6.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 240 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 171 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 170 | 25.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 120 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 45.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 100 | 33.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 88 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 85 | 49.9 mi |
Top 2 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 Iron River. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Iron River.
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.