In 2025, fire departments serving West Bend responded to 238 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 58% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,008 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $5.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 167 | — | |
| 2022 | 205 | +22.8% | |
| 2023 | 198 | -3.4% | |
| 2024 | 200 | +1.0% | |
| 2025 | 238 | +19.0% |
For the 60 building fires West Bend departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 231 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 | 26 | 11.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 25 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 20 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 17 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 14 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 80 | 34.6% |
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 West Bend mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 67 | 29.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 24 | 10.4% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 24 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 19 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 19 | 8.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 11 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 31 | 13.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by West Bend departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 87% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Bend sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,054 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 | 35.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,015 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 829 | 35.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 630 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 612 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 508 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 364 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 360 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 325 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 42.4 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 West Bend. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in West Bend.
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.