In 2025, fire departments serving Wales responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 87% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
74 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $16K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022* | 8 | — | |
| 2023 | 27 | — | |
| 2024 | 13 | -51.9% | |
| 2025 | 15 | +15.4% |
* Well below Wales'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 2 building fires Wales departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 7 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Storage area, other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 14.3% |
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 Wales mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 14.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wales sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,069 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 28.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 360 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 325 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 280 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 254 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 38.0 mi |
Top 4 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 Wales. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wales.
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.