In 2025, fire departments serving Milltown responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 86% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
71 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 14 | +27.3% | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 26 | — | |
| 2025 | 14 | -46.2% |
* Well below Milltown'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 6 building fires Milltown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 29 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 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 17.2% | |
| 2 | Structural area, other | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Assembly area - less than 100 persons | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 24.1% |
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 Milltown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 27.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 8 | 27.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Conducted heat from another fire | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 3.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Milltown departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Milltown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,963 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 8,513 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,350 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 835 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 656 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 358 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 335 | 43.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 298 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 275 | 43.7 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 54858 | 71 |
Six Wisconsin cities with population within ±25% of Milltown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Milltown.
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.