In 2025, fire departments serving Onalaska responded to 31 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 68% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
146 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $349K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 46 | — | |
| 2022 | 30 | -34.8% | |
| 2023* | 15 | — | |
| 2024 | 24 | — | |
| 2025 | 31 | +29.2% |
* Well below Onalaska'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 Onalaska departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 65 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 | Outside area, other | 18 | 27.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 10 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Other | 7 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 9.2% |
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 Onalaska mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 33 | 50.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 9 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 6 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Onalaska departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $19,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $8,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $4,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Onalaska sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,491 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 494 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 485 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 384 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 359 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 268 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 229 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 0.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | 140 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 127 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 110 | 43.1 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 Washington cities with population within ±25% of Onalaska. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Onalaska.
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.