In 2025, fire departments serving Sheboygan responded to 327 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $220K 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 60% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,823 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 386 | — | |
| 2022 | 425 | +10.1% | |
| 2023 | 362 | -14.8% | |
| 2024 | 323 | -10.8% | |
| 2025 | 327 | +1.2% |
For the 57 building fires Sheboygan departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 474 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 71 | 15.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 47 | 9.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 35 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 30 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 30 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 22 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 21 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 20 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 15 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 167 | 35.2% |
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 Sheboygan mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 189 | 39.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 76 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 48 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 31 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 26 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 17 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 13 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 10 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 49 | 10.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sheboygan departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 73% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $220,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $160,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sheboygan sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
30 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 9 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,671 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 508 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 360 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 325 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 280 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 130 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 85 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 57 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 56 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 30.7 mi |
Top 5 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 Sheboygan. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sheboygan.
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.