In 2025, fire departments serving Janesville responded to 302 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5.3M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,805 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $13.7M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 434 | — | |
| 2022 | 283 | -34.8% | |
| 2023 | 340 | +20.1% | |
| 2024 | 446 | +31.2% | |
| 2025 | 302 | -32.3% |
For the 45 building fires Janesville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 413 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 | 66 | 16.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 56 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 33 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 27 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 23 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 15 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 15 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 14 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 137 | 33.2% |
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 Janesville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 193 | 46.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 47 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 24 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 19 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 19 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 15 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 7 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 48 | 11.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Janesville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,263,500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Catastrophic | Investigated |
| 2 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Janesville sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
12 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,890 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 32.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 254 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 180 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 169 | 14.9 mi |
Top 9 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 Janesville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Janesville.
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.