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2025 County Report

Fires in Taylor County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Taylor County responded to 49 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss.

6,890 residents FIPS 55119 19 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
49
288 across 5 years
Building fires
23
4 wildland
Property loss
$1.0M
$695K structure · $322K contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 84% of all calls.

49
Total Incidents
Building fires 23 46.9%
Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue 10 20.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 4 8.2%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 2 4.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 4.1%
All other categories 8 16.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Taylor County?

Apr peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 8
Feb 8
Mar 5
Apr 15
May 2
Jun 0
Jul 2
Aug 0
Sep 2
Oct 1
Nov 3
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Taylor County

288 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 30
2022 67
2023 61
2024 81
2025 49
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 23 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
72%
13
Cause undetermined
6%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
17%
3
Under investigation
6%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $693K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Taylor County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 GILMAN Building fires Major
2 $200,000 Medford Building fires Significant
3 $125,000 Rib Lake Building fires Significant
4 $40,000 GILMAN Building fires Significant
5 $25,000 Medford Building fires Significant
6 $20,000 Medford Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
7 $14,500 Rib Lake Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $10,000 Medford Building fires Significant
9 $4,000 westboro Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $4,000 westboro Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Taylor County compares

Taylor County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.11
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Taylor County
7.11
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
3.34
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Taylor County
3.34
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Taylor County
0
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Taylor County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55119.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Taylor County

6 departments report from this county.

STETSONVILLE VOL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 60030 14 incidents
Gilman Rural Vol Fire Dept
Gilman
FDID 60040 14 incidents
Jump River Vol Fire Dept
Shedon
FDID 60050 14 incidents
Medford Area Fire Dept
—
FDID 60010 8 incidents
Rib Lake Vol Fire Dept
Rib Lake
FDID 60020 6 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.