Home› Counties› WI› Walworth County
2025 County Report

Fires in Walworth County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Walworth County responded to 948 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss.

75,522 residents FIPS 55127 43 cities · 16 fire depts
Total incidents
948
4,442 across 5 years
Building fires
284
116 wildland
Property loss
$2.8M
$1.9M structure · $864K contents
Casualties
0 / 6
0 civ deaths · 3 civ inj · 3 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.

948
Total Incidents
Building fires 284 30.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 150 15.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 65 6.9%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 43 4.5%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 38 4.0%
All other categories 368 38.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Walworth County?

Apr peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 80
Feb 75
Mar 115
Apr 120
May 72
Jun 64
Jul 69
Aug 64
Sep 55
Oct 78
Nov 93
Dec 63
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Walworth County

4,442 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 736
2022 783
2023 963
2024 1,012
2025 948
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 284 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
57%
110
Cause undetermined
11%
21
Intentional / arson
10%
19
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
24
Under investigation
6%
11
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
7
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Walworth County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 66% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 DELAVAN Building fires Major
2 $150,000 Whitewater Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 Whitewater Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 Village Of Bloomfiel Building fires Significant
5 $120,000 Village Of Bloomfiel Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Elkhorn Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Town of Whitewater Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 Fontana Building fires Significant
9 $80,000 Elkhorn Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $75,000 Whitewater Building fires Significant
06 How Walworth County compares

Walworth County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.55
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Walworth County
12.55
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
3.76
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Walworth County
3.76
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Walworth County
0
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Walworth County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55127.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Walworth County

16 departments report from this county.

Elkhorn Area Fire Department
Elkhorn
FDID 64090 133 incidents
Lake Geneva Fire Dept
Lake Geneva
FDID 64040 119 incidents
Whitewater Fire and EMS
Whitewater
FDID 64110 116 incidents
Delavan Fire Department
Delavan
FDID 64100 114 incidents
Delavan TWP Vol Fire Dept
delavan
FDID 64020 81 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.