In 2025, fire departments serving Portage County responded to 448 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $450K property loss.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Dec dips.
2,205 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 377 | |
| 2022 | 402 | |
| 2023 | 480 | |
| 2024 | 498 | |
| 2025 | 448 |
For the 101 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Portage County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 78% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $450,000 | Junction City | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $100,000 | Plover | Building fires | Significant |
| 3 | $100,000 | Plover | Building fires | Significant |
| 4 | $80,000 | Junction City | Building fires | Significant |
| 5 | $75,000 | Stevens Point | Building fires | Significant |
| 6 | $65,000 | Plover | Building fires | Significant |
| 7 | $50,000 | Stevens Point | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $50,000 | Stevens Point | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $50,000 | Stevens Point | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $50,000 | Stevens Point | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 55097.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Stevens Point | 25,549 | View › |
| Plover | 13,549 | View › |
| Whiting | 1,538 | View › |
| Amherst | 988 | View › |
| Bancroft | 693 | View › |
| Polonia | 665 | View › |
| Park Ridge | 479 | View › |
| Rosholt | 475 | View › |
| Almond | 444 | View › |
| Junction City | 317 | View › |
| Amherst Junction | 309 | View › |
| Nelsonville | 180 | View › |
9 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.