In 2025, fire departments serving Prairie Farm responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 100% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
44 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $677K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | -35.3% | |
| 2023 | 6 | -45.5% | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 10 | — |
* Well below Prairie Farm'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 6 building fires Prairie Farm departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | Roof surface: exterior | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Wall assembly | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Machinery room or area; elevator machinery room | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 17.6% |
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 Farm mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 82.4% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Prairie Farm departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Prairie Farm sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,365 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Fireworks | 390 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 153 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 148 | 15.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 140 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 124 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 123 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 44.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 75 | 45.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 70 | 39.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 69 | 37.1 mi |
Top 3 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 Prairie Farm. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Prairie Farm.
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.