In 2025, fire departments serving Johnson Creek responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Fires in structures other than in a building lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 91% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
71 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | +50.0% | |
| 2023 | 12 | -33.3% | |
| 2024* | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 21 | — |
* Well below Johnson Creek'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 Johnson Creek departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 6 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 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 1 | 16.7% |
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 Johnson Creek mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 16.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Johnson Creek sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,432 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 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 12.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 829 | 43.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 34.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 508 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 484 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 30.9 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 Johnson Creek. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Johnson Creek.
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.