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In 2025, fire departments serving Platteville responded to 33 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.5M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Platteville's departments reported 33 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 82 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
408 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 93 | — | |
| 2022 | 115 | +23.7% | |
| 2023 | 123 | +7.0% | |
| 2024* | 44 | — | |
| 2025* | 33 | — |
* Well below Platteville'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 Platteville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 141 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 44 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 26 | 18.4% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 23 | 16.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 9.9% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 6.4% |
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 Platteville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 75 | 53.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 10 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 9 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 9.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Platteville departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $52,000 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Platteville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 188,236 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Natural | 87,275 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,699 | 17.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,599 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 8,908 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,685 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,200 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,348 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,869 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 3,713 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,498 | 39.6 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 Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Platteville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Platteville.
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.