In 2025, fire departments serving Neenah responded to 215 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 54% of all calls.
May peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,274 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $9.3M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 245 | — | |
| 2022 | 235 | -4.1% | |
| 2023 | 279 | +18.7% | |
| 2024 | 300 | +7.5% | |
| 2025 | 215 | -28.3% |
For the 40 building fires Neenah departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 240 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 46 | 19.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 40 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 18 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 12 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 11 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 10 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 77 | 32.1% |
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 Neenah mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 94 | 39.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 30 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 25 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 12 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 10 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 9.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Neenah departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $500,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $196,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $45,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $35,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Neenah sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,116 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 829 | 34.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 572 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 508 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 11.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 385 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 366 | 8.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 360 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 325 | 41.8 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 Neenah. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Neenah.
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.