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2025 County Report

Fires in Eau Claire County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Eau Claire County responded to 630 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $2.0M property loss.

80,822 residents FIPS 55035 15 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
630
3,207 across 5 years
Building fires
86
48 wildland
Property loss
$8.3M
$6.0M structure · $2.3M contents
Casualties
3 / 9
3 civ deaths · 6 civ inj · 3 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.

630
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 97 15.4%
Building fires 86 13.7%
Unauthorized burning 64 10.2%
Power line down 39 6.2%
Passenger vehicle fire 36 5.7%
All other categories 308 48.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Eau Claire County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 48
Feb 40
Mar 62
Apr 61
May 57
Jun 56
Jul 73
Aug 46
Sep 45
Oct 56
Nov 60
Dec 26
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Eau Claire County

3,207 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 632
2022 658
2023 622
2024 665
2025 630
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 86 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
54%
88
Cause undetermined
16%
27
Intentional / arson
8%
13
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
25
Under investigation
4%
7
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $4.5M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Eau Claire County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 75% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $2,000,000 City of Augusta Building fires Major
2 $654,000 Eau Claire Building fires Major
3 $577,000 Eau Claire Building fires Major
4 $250,000 Fall Creek Fire, other Major
5 $250,000 Fall Creek Building fires Major
6 $224,500 Eau Claire Building fires Significant
7 $200,000 Eau Claire Building fires Significant
8 $160,000 Eau Claire Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 Eau Claire Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 Eau Claire Building fires Significant
06 How Eau Claire County compares

Eau Claire County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.79
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Eau Claire County
7.79
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
1.06
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Eau Claire County
1.06
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
37.1
Civilian fire deaths per million
Eau Claire County
37.1
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Eau Claire County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55035.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Eau Claire County

6 departments report from this county.

Eau Claire Fire Dept
Eau Claire
FDID 18010 379 incidents
TOWNSHIP VOL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 18060 138 incidents
Altoona Fire Dept
Altoona
FDID 18020 35 incidents
AugustaBridge Creek FD Inc
Augusta
FDID 18030 32 incidents
Fall Creek Area Fire Dist
Fall Creek
FDID 18050 30 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.