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2025 County Report

Fires in Chippewa County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Chippewa County responded to 381 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

36,663 residents FIPS 55017 33 cities · 12 fire depts
Total incidents
381
2,042 across 5 years
Building fires
100
46 wildland
Property loss
$6.1M
$4.5M structure · $1.5M contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

381
Total Incidents
Building fires 100 26.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 34 8.9%
Passenger vehicle fire 30 7.9%
Grass fire 29 7.6%
Power line down 21 5.5%
All other categories 167 43.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Chippewa County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 40
Feb 29
Mar 51
Apr 37
May 33
Jun 18
Jul 31
Aug 32
Sep 17
Oct 38
Nov 25
Dec 30
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Chippewa County

2,042 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 483
2022 432
2023 361
2024 385
2025 381
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 100 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
72%
77
Cause undetermined
9%
10
Intentional / arson
2%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
11
Under investigation
5%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Chippewa County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 67% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Bloomer Building fires Major
2 $500,000 Bloomer Fires in structures other than in a building Major
3 $500,000 Bloomer Fires in structures other than in a building Major
4 $500,000 Cadott Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
5 $200,000 Cadott Building fires Significant
6 $200,000 City of Chippewa Fal Building fires Significant
7 $175,000 Stanley Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
8 $150,000 Stanley Building fires Significant
9 $150,000 cadott Building fires Significant
10 $150,000 City of Stanley Building fires Significant
06 How Chippewa County compares

Chippewa County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.39
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Chippewa County
10.39
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
2.73
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Chippewa County
2.73
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Chippewa County
0
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Chippewa County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55017.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Chippewa County

12 departments report from this county.

Chippewa Falls Fire Emergency Services
—
FDID 09040 83 incidents
Chippewa Fire District
Chippewa Falls
FDID 09050 72 incidents
BLOOMER VOL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 09010 46 incidents
BoydEdsonDelmar Vol Fire Dept
Boyd
FDID 09020 30 incidents 1 paid 24 vol
Wheaton Fire and Rescue
—
FDID 09120 28 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.