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2025 County Report

Fires in Clark County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Clark County responded to 134 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

10,141 residents FIPS 55019 31 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
134
824 across 5 years
Building fires
47
15 wildland
Property loss
$925K
$736K structure · $190K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 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 57% of all calls.

134
Total Incidents
Building fires 47 35.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 9 6.7%
Grass fire 8 6.0%
Passenger vehicle fire 6 4.5%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 6 4.5%
All other categories 58 43.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Clark County?

Mar peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 19
Feb 11
Mar 25
Apr 14
May 11
Jun 7
Jul 9
Aug 4
Sep 7
Oct 6
Nov 15
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Clark County

824 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 205
2022 122
2023 166
2024 197
2025 134
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 47 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
78%
46
Cause undetermined
2%
1
Intentional / arson
8%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
3
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $637K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Clark County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 87% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 City of Owen Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Chili Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
3 $80,000 City of Owen Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 NEILLSVILLE Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $50,000 City of Thorp Building fires Significant
6 $40,000 Greenwood Building fires Significant
7 $37,000 Village of Withee Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
8 $30,000 Village of Dorcheste Building fires Significant
9 $25,000 Chili Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $25,000 Village of Dorcheste Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Clark County compares

Clark County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.21
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Clark County
13.21
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
4.63
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Clark County
4.63
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Clark County
0
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Clark County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55019.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Clark County

8 departments report from this county.

OwenWitheeCurtiss Fire and EMS District
Owen
FDID 10100 33 incidents
Thorp Area Fire District
Thorp
FDID 10110 29 incidents 32 vol
Central Fire and EMS District
Abbotsford
FDID 10030 25 incidents 30 vol
Neillsville Fire Dept
Neillsville
FDID 10090 22 incidents 26 vol
Greenwood Area Fire and EMS Dist
Greenwood
FDID 10080 16 incidents 29 vol
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.