In 2025, fire departments serving Kenosha responded to 687 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,104 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $12.6M cumulative property loss. 10 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 693 | — | |
| 2022 | 575 | -17.0% | |
| 2023 | 554 | -3.7% | |
| 2024 | 595 | +7.4% | |
| 2025 | 687 | +15.5% |
For the 75 building fires Kenosha departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 754 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 146 | 19.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 90 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 83 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 79 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 30 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 28 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 27 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 26 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 22 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 17 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 206 | 27.3% |
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 Kenosha mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 223 | 29.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 119 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 101 | 13.4% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 52 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 44 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 43 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 33 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 21 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 20 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 18 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 80 | 10.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kenosha departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 64% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $115,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kenosha sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
55 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 | 4 | |
| 10-19 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 13 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 9 | |
| 60-69 | 5 | |
| 70-79 | 8 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,533 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 750 | 13.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 13.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 180 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 76 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 9.6 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 Kenosha. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kenosha.
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.