In 2025, fire departments serving Columbia County responded to 702 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $293K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Sep dips.
3,469 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 562 | |
| 2022 | 674 | |
| 2023 | 841 | |
| 2024 | 690 | |
| 2025 | 702 |
For the 127 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Columbia County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 59% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $293,300 | Portage | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $200,000 | Okee | Building fires | Significant |
| 3 | $200,000 | Village of Poynette | Building fires | Significant |
| 4 | $130,000 | Cambria | Building fires | Significant |
| 5 | $120,000 | Pardeeville | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant |
| 6 | $120,000 | Columbus | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant |
| 7 | $120,000 | Columbus | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant |
| 8 | $120,000 | Cambria | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $120,000 | Cambria | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 10 | $100,000 | Town of Fountain Pra | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 55021.
13 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.