In 2025, fire departments serving Prairie du Chien responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $399K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Nov peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
86 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $512K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 27 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | -14.8% | |
| 2023* | 10 | — | |
| 2024* | 10 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | — |
* Well below Prairie du Chien'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 Prairie du Chien departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 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 | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Switchgear area, transformer vault | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 19.0% |
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 Prairie du Chien mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Prairie du Chien departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $399,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Prairie du Chien sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,219 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,400 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 195 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 189 | 13.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 166 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 32.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 124 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 104 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 100 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 39.2 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 53821 | 86 |
Six Wisconsin cities with population within ±25% of Prairie du Chien. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Prairie du Chien.
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.