In 2025, fire departments serving Prairie du Sac responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
63 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $456K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 8 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | +50.0% | |
| 2023 | 15 | +25.0% | |
| 2024 | 13 | -13.3% | |
| 2025 | 15 | +15.4% |
For the 0 building fires Prairie du Sac departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 27 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 | 10 | 37.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 18.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 3.7% |
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 Sac mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 40.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Match | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 3.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Prairie du Sac departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Prairie du Sac sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,581 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 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 484 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 254 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 180 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Equipment and vehicle use | 170 | 45.8 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 | 53578 | 63 |
Six Wisconsin cities with population within ±25% of Prairie du Sac. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Prairie du Sac.
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.