In 2025, fire departments serving Pewaukee responded to 138 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 61% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
659 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 112 | — | |
| 2022 | 132 | +17.9% | |
| 2023 | 142 | +7.6% | |
| 2024 | 135 | -4.9% | |
| 2025 | 138 | +2.2% |
For the 32 building fires Pewaukee departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 185 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 | 51 | 27.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 32 | 17.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 14 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 9 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 7 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 7 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 34 | 18.4% |
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 Pewaukee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 66 | 35.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 26 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 14 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 10 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 14.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pewaukee departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $287,700 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pewaukee sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,756 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 | 32.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 360 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 325 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 280 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 254 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 14.2 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 Pewaukee. 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.