In 2025, fire departments serving Soldiers Grove responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K 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 91% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
63 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $640K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 13 | — | |
| 2024 | 19 | +46.2% | |
| 2025 | 21 | +10.5% |
* Well below Soldiers Grove'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 1 building fires Soldiers Grove departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 23 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 | 9 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 21.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 4.3% |
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 Soldiers Grove mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 34.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 26.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Soldiers Grove departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $3,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Soldiers Grove sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,478 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 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 195 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 189 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 166 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 161 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 140 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 125 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 124 | 30.4 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 Soldiers Grove. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Soldiers Grove.
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.