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2025 County Report

Fires in Rock County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Rock County responded to 1,190 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $5.3M property loss.

124,382 residents FIPS 55105 37 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
1,190
5,841 across 5 years
Building fires
223
141 wildland
Property loss
$16.7M
$12.9M structure · $3.8M contents
Casualties
3 / 11
3 civ deaths · 7 civ inj · 4 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.

1,190
Total Incidents
Building fires 223 18.7%
Unauthorized burning 170 14.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 118 9.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 97 8.2%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 76 6.4%
All other categories 506 42.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Rock County?

Mar peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 87
Feb 53
Mar 180
Apr 122
May 110
Jun 114
Jul 74
Aug 91
Sep 53
Oct 91
Nov 128
Dec 87
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Rock County

5,841 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,270
2022 1,017
2023 1,059
2024 1,305
2025 1,190
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 223 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
52%
153
Cause undetermined
17%
50
Intentional / arson
9%
26
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
42
Under investigation
5%
15
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $9.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Rock County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 74% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $5,263,500 Janesville Fires in structures other than in a building Catastrophic
2 $2,000,000 Beloit Building fires Major
3 $500,500 Village of Orfordvil Building fires Major
4 $350,000 Janesville Building fires Major
5 $350,000 LA PRAIRIE TWP Building fires Major
6 $262,000 Beloit Building fires Major
7 $250,000 Beloit Building fires Major
8 $200,000 Beloit Building fires Significant
9 $200,000 Janesville Building fires Significant
10 $200,000 Village of Orfordvil Building fires Significant
06 How Rock County compares

Rock County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.57
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Rock County
9.57
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
1.79
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Rock County
1.79
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
24.1
Civilian fire deaths per million
Rock County
24.1
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Rock County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55105.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Rock County

10 departments report from this county.

Beloit Fire Dept
Beloit
FDID 53010 371 incidents
Janesville Fire Dept
Janesville
FDID 53020 320 incidents
Edgerton Fire Protection Distict
—
FDID 53050 170 incidents
Beloit TWP Fire Dept
Beloit
FDID 53030 127 incidents
Clinton Fire Protection Dist
Clinton
FDID 53040 56 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.