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2025 County Report

Fires in Buffalo County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Buffalo County responded to 119 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

6,108 residents FIPS 55011 24 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
119
570 across 5 years
Building fires
32
27 wildland
Property loss
$947K
$703K structure · $244K contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.

119
Total Incidents
Building fires 32 26.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 11 9.2%
Grass fire 11 9.2%
Passenger vehicle fire 10 8.4%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 8 6.7%
All other categories 47 39.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Buffalo County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 12
Feb 6
Mar 23
Apr 6
May 14
Jun 7
Jul 8
Aug 9
Sep 12
Oct 12
Nov 3
Dec 7
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Buffalo County

570 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 111
2022 124
2023 85
2024 131
2025 119
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 32 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
78%
39
Cause undetermined
10%
5
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
4
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $542K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Buffalo County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 77% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Mondovi Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Town of Montana Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
3 $75,000 Mondovi Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 Mondovi Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 Mondovi Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
6 $50,000 Mondovi Building fires Significant
7 $45,000 Mondovi Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $25,000 Town of Buffalo Building fires Significant
9 $25,000 Town of Lincoln Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $22,000 Buffalo City Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Buffalo County compares

Buffalo County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

19.48
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Buffalo County
19.48
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
5.24
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Buffalo County
5.24
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Buffalo County
0
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Buffalo County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55011.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Buffalo County

6 departments report from this county.

MONDOVI FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 06020 40 incidents
FOUNTAIN CITY FIRE DEPT
Fountain City
FDID 06060 13 incidents
TRICOMMUNITY FIRE DEPT
Buffalo City
FDID 06080 13 incidents
ALMA VOL FIRE DEPT
Alma
FDID 06010 10 incidents 18 vol
WAUMANDEEMONTANALINCOLN VOL FIRE DEPT
Cochrane
FDID 06070 10 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in WI

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Necedah WL unit 23B RX 2024 FWS 853
2 WIHRR-FY19-RX-Cattail Desert North 2019 FWS 536
3 Peters WF 2014 FWS 363
4 WINCR-FY19-RX-Triangle Complex 2019 FWS 355
5 WISCR-FY19-RX-10 Mile 2019 FWS 352
6 WINCR-FY19-RX-PR19-20 2019 FWS 349
7 WINCR-FY19-RX-PR28 2019 FWS 293
8 WINCR-FY21-WF-Railroad 2 2021 OTH 267
9 WISCR-FY19-RX-Erickson 2019 FWS 249
10 WIHRR-FY19-RX-Collien's Ditch South 2019 FWS 224

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.