In 2025, fire departments serving Sun Prairie responded to 94 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
753 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 119 | — | |
| 2022 | 190 | +59.7% | |
| 2023 | 168 | -11.6% | |
| 2024 | 182 | +8.3% | |
| 2025 | 94 | -48.4% |
For the 8 building fires Sun Prairie departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 131 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 | 23 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 15.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 19 | 14.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 10.7% | |
| 5 | Other | 7 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 28 | 21.4% |
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 Sun Prairie mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 56 | 42.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 7 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 6 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 9.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sun Prairie departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $90,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sun Prairie sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,451 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 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 20.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 829 | 43.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 617 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 35.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 580 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 5.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 484 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 36.2 mi |
Top 6 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 Sun Prairie. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sun Prairie.
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.