In 2025, fire departments serving West Salem responded to 31 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
May peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
103 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $50K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 57 | — | |
| 2022* | 11 | — | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024* | 3 | — | |
| 2025 | 31 | — |
* Well below West Salem'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 0 building fires West Salem 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 | 9 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 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 West Salem mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Candle | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 4.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Salem sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,455 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 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 384 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 48.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 295 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 195 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 166 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 159 | 28.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 124 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 112 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 104 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 93 | 12.8 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 | 54669 | 103 |
Six Wisconsin cities with population within ±25% of West Salem. 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.