In 2025, fire departments serving Ladysmith responded to 49 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Trash or rubbish fire, contained lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 90% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
287 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.2M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 42 | — | |
| 2022 | 73 | +73.8% | |
| 2023 | 71 | -2.7% | |
| 2024 | 52 | -26.8% | |
| 2025 | 49 | -5.8% |
For the 6 building fires Ladysmith departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 68 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 | 18 | 26.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 22.1% |
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 Ladysmith mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 49 | 72.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 4 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 1.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ladysmith departments in 2025. These 4 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 | Carbon monoxide incident | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $3,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ladysmith sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,378 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 120 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 113 | 32.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 100 | 45.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 75 | 6.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 69 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 61 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 60 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 23.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 57 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 53 | 37.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 47 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 46 | 44.1 mi |
Top 2 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 Ladysmith. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ladysmith.
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.