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2025 County Report

Fires in Ozaukee County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Ozaukee County responded to 542 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss.

75,021 residents FIPS 55089 18 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
542
2,408 across 5 years
Building fires
101
51 wildland
Property loss
$1.6M
$1.0M structure · $555K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 0 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 62% of all calls.

542
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 104 19.2%
Building fires 101 18.6%
Power line down 59 10.9%
Carbon monoxide incident 45 8.3%
Cooking fire, confined to container 28 5.2%
All other categories 205 37.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ozaukee County?

Nov peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 56
Feb 33
Mar 50
Apr 48
May 52
Jun 60
Jul 53
Aug 52
Sep 20
Oct 26
Nov 68
Dec 24
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ozaukee County

2,408 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 438
2022 453
2023 514
2024 461
2025 542
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 101 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
64%
56
Cause undetermined
9%
8
Intentional / arson
5%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
17%
15
Under investigation
2%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $955K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Ozaukee County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 92% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 City of Mequon Building fires Major
2 $200,000 City of Mequon Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Village of Fredonia Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Village of Grafton Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Port Washington Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 Village of Grafton Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 Village of Grafton Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $10,000 Village of Fredonia Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $10,000 Village of Grafton Building fires Significant
10 $10,000 Village of Grafton Building fires Significant
06 How Ozaukee County compares

Ozaukee County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.22
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ozaukee County
7.22
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
1.35
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ozaukee County
1.35
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ozaukee County
0
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ozaukee County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55089.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Ozaukee County

9 departments report from this county.

Southern Ozaukee Fire and EMS Dept
Mequon
FDID 45140 135 incidents
OZAUKEE CENTRAL FIRE DEPT
Grafton
FDID 45040 126 incidents
Cedarburg Fire Dept
—
FDID 45130 102 incidents
Port Washington Fire Dept
Port Washington
FDID 45060 93 incidents
Fredonia Fire Dept
FREDONIA
FDID 45030 27 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.