In 2025, fire departments serving Valders responded to 37 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K 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 78% of all calls.
Oct peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
158 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $866K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 32 | — | |
| 2022 | 61 | +90.6% | |
| 2023* | 15 | — | |
| 2024* | 13 | — | |
| 2025 | 37 | — |
* Well below Valders'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 16 building fires Valders 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 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 22.7% |
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 Valders mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 22.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Valders departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Valders sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,375 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 508 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 385 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 366 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 325 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 320 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 275 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 140 | 42.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 130 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 100 | 41.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 85 | 4.2 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 Valders. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.