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2025 County Report

Fires in Door County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Door County responded to 381 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

12,221 residents FIPS 55029 26 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
381
2,027 across 5 years
Building fires
64
54 wildland
Property loss
$824K
$639K structure · $185K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 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 52% of all calls.

381
Total Incidents
Building fires 64 16.8%
Power line down 41 10.8%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 35 9.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 29 7.6%
Carbon monoxide incident 27 7.1%
All other categories 185 48.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Door County?

Oct peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 22
Feb 37
Mar 44
Apr 37
May 27
Jun 37
Jul 34
Aug 24
Sep 12
Oct 48
Nov 27
Dec 32
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Door County

2,027 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 373
2022 408
2023 441
2024 424
2025 381
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 64 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
49
Cause undetermined
13%
10
Intentional / arson
10%
8
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
8
Under investigation
4%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $567K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Door County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 89% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Forestville Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Forestville Building fires Significant
3 $75,000 Sturgeon Bay Building fires Significant
4 $60,000 Sturgeon Bay Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
5 $40,000 Sturgeon Bay Building fires Significant
6 $25,000 Sturgeon Bay Building fires Significant
7 $20,000 Gardner Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
8 $20,000 Sturgeon Bay Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 WASHINGTON ISLAND Building fires Significant
10 $12,000 Sturgeon Bay Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Door County compares

Door County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

31.18
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Door County
31.18
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
5.24
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Door County
5.24
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Door County
0
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Door County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55029.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Door County

11 departments report from this county.

STURGEON BAY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 15070 93 incidents
Sister Bay Liberty Grove Fire
Sister Bay
FDID 15060 71 incidents
BrusselsUnionGardner Fire Dept
Brussels
FDID 15020 48 incidents
Egg Harbor Fire Dept
—
FDID 15030 44 incidents
Southern Door Vol Fire Dept
Forestville
FDID 15090 34 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.