In 2025, fire departments serving Sharon responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K 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 71% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
86 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $376K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 30 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023* | 7 | — | |
| 2024* | 10 | — | |
| 2025 | 34 | — |
* Well below Sharon'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 7 building fires Sharon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 25 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 | 5 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Structural area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 4.0% |
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 Sharon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 48.0% | |
| 2 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Match | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sharon departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sharon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,346 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 750 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 254 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 200 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 180 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 169 | 32.9 mi |
Top 2 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 Sharon. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sharon.
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.