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2025 County Report

Fires in Lafayette County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Lafayette County responded to 134 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $90K property loss.

7,896 residents FIPS 55065 29 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
134
539 across 5 years
Building fires
29
49 wildland
Property loss
$780K
$560K structure · $221K 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 70% of all calls.

134
Total Incidents
Building fires 29 21.6%
Grass fire 28 20.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 15 11.2%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 12 9.0%
Cultivated grain or crop fire 10 7.5%
All other categories 40 29.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lafayette County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 22
Feb 15
Mar 23
Apr 22
May 11
Jun 6
Jul 4
Aug 4
Sep 14
Oct 5
Nov 2
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Lafayette County

539 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 89
2022 89
2023 120
2024 107
2025 134
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 29 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
67%
22
Cause undetermined
6%
2
Intentional / arson
9%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
4
Under investigation
3%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $510K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Lafayette County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 91% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $90,000 Darlington Building fires Significant
2 $80,000 Argyle Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $75,000 Argyle Building fires Significant
4 $70,000 Darlington Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 South Wayne Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Village of Gratiot Building fires Significant
7 $35,000 Darlington Building fires Significant
8 $30,000 BLANCHARDVILLE Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 Argyle Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $15,000 Darlington Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Lafayette County compares

Lafayette County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.97
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lafayette County
16.97
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
3.67
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lafayette County
3.67
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lafayette County
0
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lafayette County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55065.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lafayette County

10 departments report from this county.

Belmont Fire Prot Dist
Belmont
FDID 33020 45 incidents
Argyle Adams Fire Dept
Argyle
FDID 33010 28 incidents 28 vol
Darlington Vol Fire Dept
Darlington
FDID 33090 28 incidents 56 vol
BLANCHARDVILLE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 33040 21 incidents
Benton Vol Fire Dept
Benton
FDID 33030 12 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.