In 2025, fire departments serving North Fond du Lac responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
90 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $400K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | — | |
| 2023 | 28 | +21.7% | |
| 2024 | 16 | -42.9% | |
| 2025 | 21 | +31.2% |
* Well below North Fond du Lac'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 2 building fires North Fond du Lac departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 15.0% |
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 North Fond du Lac mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by North Fond du Lac departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. North Fond du Lac sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,747 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 42.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 829 | 15.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 15.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 572 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 508 | 2.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 484 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 385 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 366 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 22.2 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 North Fond du Lac. 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.