In 2025, fire departments serving Shullsburg responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2K 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 85% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
68 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $926K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 17 | +0.0% | |
| 2023 | 12 | -29.4% | |
| 2024 | 9 | -25.0% | |
| 2025 | 13 | +44.4% |
For the 1 building fires Shullsburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 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 | Undetermined | 14 | 63.6% | |
| 2 | Storage area, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 4.5% |
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 Shullsburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 81.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Shullsburg departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000 | Cultivated grain or crop fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Shullsburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,460 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 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 30.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 265 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 189 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 169 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 125 | 23.3 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 | 53586 | 68 |
Six Wisconsin cities with population within ±25% of Shullsburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Shullsburg.
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.