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2025 County Report

Fires in Dodge County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Dodge County responded to 971 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

54,099 residents FIPS 55027 50 cities · 18 fire depts
Total incidents
971
3,416 across 5 years
Building fires
310
139 wildland
Property loss
$6.5M
$5.3M structure · $1.2M contents
Casualties
3 / 8
3 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 7 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.

971
Total Incidents
Building fires 310 31.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 132 13.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 74 7.6%
Grass fire 36 3.7%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 36 3.7%
All other categories 383 39.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Dodge County?

Jan peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 100
Feb 96
Mar 100
Apr 88
May 78
Jun 52
Jul 70
Aug 87
Sep 63
Oct 67
Nov 98
Dec 72
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Dodge County

3,416 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 500
2022 551
2023 638
2024 756
2025 971
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 310 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
57%
92
Cause undetermined
17%
27
Intentional / arson
9%
14
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
12
Under investigation
7%
12
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Dodge County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 69% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 Lomira Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Major
2 $450,000 Village of Lomira Building fires Major
3 $419,700 Lac La Belle Villa Building fires Major
4 $400,000 City of Waupun Building fires Major
5 $300,000 City of Fox Lake Building fires Major
6 $275,000 City of Waupun Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
7 $237,600 Lac La Belle Villa Building fires Significant
8 $225,000 Oconomowoc City Building fires Significant
9 $200,000 Randolph Building fires Significant
10 $150,000 Randolph Building fires Significant
06 How Dodge County compares

Dodge County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

17.95
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Dodge County
17.95
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
5.73
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Dodge County
5.73
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
55.5
Civilian fire deaths per million
Dodge County
55.5
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Dodge County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55027.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Dodge County

18 departments report from this county.

Beaver Dam Fire Dept
Beaver Dam
FDID 14200 110 incidents 16 paid
Juneau Fire Dept
—
FDID 14220 73 incidents
Horicon Vol Fire Dept
Horicon
FDID 14010 71 incidents
Knowles Vol Fire Dept INC
Knowles
FDID 14110 59 incidents
Hustisford Vol FireDept
Hustisford
FDID 14080 56 incidents 43 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.