In 2025, fire departments serving Lac du Flambeau responded to 93 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 92% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
206 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022* | 15 | — | |
| 2023 | 41 | — | |
| 2024 | 46 | +12.2% | |
| 2025 | 93 | +102.2% |
* Well below Lac du Flambeau'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 10 building fires Lac du Flambeau departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 27 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 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 3 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 33.3% |
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 Lac du Flambeau mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 6 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 6 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Candle | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 7.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lac du Flambeau departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lac du Flambeau sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,337 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 80 | 5.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 79 | 12.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 77 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 72 | 29.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 68 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 67 | 13.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 53 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Fireworks | 48 | 35.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 47 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 46 | 34.6 mi |
Top 6 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 Lac du Flambeau. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lac du Flambeau.
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.