In 2025, fire departments serving Kewaunee responded to 32 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 84% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
133 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $331K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | — | |
| 2023 | 26 | +13.0% | |
| 2024 | 39 | +50.0% | |
| 2025 | 32 | -17.9% |
* Well below Kewaunee'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 18 building fires Kewaunee 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 | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 9 | Separate operator/control area of transportation | 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 Kewaunee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 4 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kewaunee departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kewaunee sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,167 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 33.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 88 | 49.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 85 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 41 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 36 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 34 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 32 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 40.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 28 | 41.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 25 | 38.8 mi |
Top 5 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 Kewaunee. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kewaunee.
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.