In 2025, fire departments serving Two Rivers responded to 163 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
544 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 86 | — | |
| 2022* | 64 | — | |
| 2023 | 101 | — | |
| 2024 | 130 | +28.7% | |
| 2025 | 163 | +25.4% |
* Well below Two Rivers'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 43 building fires Two Rivers departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 83 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 | 10.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 8 | 9.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 7 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 26 | 31.3% |
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 Two Rivers mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 17 | 20.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 17 | 20.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 9 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 14.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Two Rivers departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $7,500 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Two Rivers sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 13 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 360 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 85 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 56 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 34 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 18 | 26.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Smoking | 18 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 43.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 15 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 28.7 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 Two Rivers. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Two Rivers.
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.