In 2025, fire departments serving Trempealeau responded to 36 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
111 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 26 | — | |
| 2024 | 20 | -23.1% | |
| 2025 | 36 | +80.0% |
* Well below Trempealeau'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 Trempealeau 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 | 8 | 34.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 21.7% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 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 Trempealeau mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 78.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Fireworks | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Match | 1 | 4.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Trempealeau sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,829 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 10.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 17.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 295 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 195 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 166 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 159 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 124 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 124 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 93 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 89 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 83 | 47.4 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 | 54661 | 111 |
Six Wisconsin cities with population within ±25% of Trempealeau. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Trempealeau.
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.