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2025 County Report

Fires in Manitowoc County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Manitowoc County responded to 633 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

58,207 residents FIPS 55071 47 cities · 20 fire depts
Total incidents
633
3,107 across 5 years
Building fires
170
94 wildland
Property loss
$4.3M
$2.9M structure · $1.4M contents
Casualties
1 / 2
1 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.

633
Total Incidents
Building fires 170 26.9%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 47 7.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 46 7.3%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 38 6.0%
Unauthorized burning 35 5.5%
All other categories 297 46.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Manitowoc County?

Mar peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 61
Feb 72
Mar 75
Apr 46
May 48
Jun 46
Jul 28
Aug 47
Sep 40
Oct 72
Nov 54
Dec 44
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Manitowoc County

3,107 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 629
2022 603
2023 599
2024 643
2025 633
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 170 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
56%
71
Cause undetermined
7%
9
Intentional / arson
8%
10
Equipment / heat source failure
17%
21
Under investigation
11%
14
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Manitowoc County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 79% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Cato Building fires Major
2 $400,000 Reedsville Building fires Major
3 $250,000 Two Rivers Building fires Major
4 $225,000 City of Kiel Building fires Significant
5 $200,000 Maribel Building fires Significant
6 $200,000 Maribel Building fires Significant
7 $150,000 Reedsville Building fires Significant
8 $150,000 City of Manitowoc Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
9 $130,000 Maribel Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $100,000 Reedsville Building fires Significant
06 How Manitowoc County compares

Manitowoc County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.87
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Manitowoc County
10.87
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
2.92
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Manitowoc County
2.92
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
17.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Manitowoc County
17.2
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Manitowoc County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55071.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Manitowoc County

20 departments report from this county.

Manitowoc Fire Dept
Manitowoc
FDID 36070 187 incidents 16 paid
TWO RIVERS FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 36180 67 incidents
VALDERS VOL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 36200 34 incidents
Newton Fire Company
MANITOWOC
FDID 36110 33 incidents 43 vol
Branch Vol Fire and Rescue
Whitelaw
FDID 36010 32 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.