In 2025, fire departments serving Merrimac responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 85% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
58 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $305K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | +50.0% | |
| 2023* | 5 | — | |
| 2024 | 10 | — | |
| 2025 | 13 | +30.0% |
* Well below Merrimac'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 3 building fires Merrimac departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 8 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Merrimac mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 9.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Merrimac sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,336 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 3,410 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,400 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 40.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 829 | 49.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 572 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 21.5 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 Merrimac. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Merrimac.
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.