In 2025, fire departments serving Monona responded to 68 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
370 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $6.0M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 58 | — | |
| 2022 | 108 | +86.2% | |
| 2023 | 86 | -20.4% | |
| 2024 | 50 | -41.9% | |
| 2025 | 68 | +36.0% |
For the 5 building fires Monona departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 112 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 | 19 | 17.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 13 | 11.6% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 7 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 24 | 21.4% |
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 Monona mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 42 | 37.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 13 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 8.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Monona departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,000 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Monona 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,989 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 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 28.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 6.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 484 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 360 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 33.4 mi |
Top 3 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 Monona. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Monona.
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.