In 2025, fire departments serving Milton responded to 84 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Apr peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
277 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $324K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 32 | — | |
| 2022 | 44 | — | |
| 2023 | 57 | +29.5% | |
| 2024 | 60 | +5.3% | |
| 2025 | 84 | +40.0% |
* Well below Milton'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 9 building fires Milton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 64 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 20.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 13 | 20.3% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 5 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Structural area, other | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 4.7% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 15.6% |
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 Milton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 21 | 32.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 6 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 14.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Milton departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Milton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,958 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 36.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 18.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 254 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 180 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 169 | 17.7 mi |
Top 4 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 Milton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.