In 2025, fire departments across Wisconsin responded to 38,249 fire and hazmat incidents — including the Necedah WL unit 23B RX wildfire that burned 854 acres in 2024.
Wisconsin ranks #40 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 51% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Jul peaks across the window; Sep dips.
185,814 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 33,370 | |
| 2022 | 37,121 | |
| 2023 | 37,572 | |
| 2024 | 39,502 | |
| 2025 | 38,249 |
For the 7,595 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined / missing | 20,536 | 7,322 / 13,214 | 14,950 | |
| 2 | Debris & open burning | 11,923 | 11,923 / 0 | 32,184 | |
| 3 | Equipment & vehicle use | 11,244 | 6,536 / 4,708 | 19,781 | |
| 4 | Arson / incendiarism | 6,600 | 3,418 / 3,182 | 14,659 | |
| 5 | Recreation & ceremony | 1,923 | 1,923 / 0 | 4,474 | |
| 6 | Natural (lightning) | 1,666 | 753 / 913 | 2,332 | |
| 7 | Power generation / utility | 1,358 | 1,358 / 0 | 3,027 | |
| 8 | Other causes | 1,266 | 826 / 440 | 709 | |
| 9 | Railroad operations | 1,214 | 1,214 / 0 | 2,725 | |
| 10 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,132 | 1,132 / 0 | 768 | |
| 11 | Smoking | 1,110 | 1,110 / 0 | 2,319 | |
| 12 | Fireworks | 673 | 673 / 0 | 782 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Building fires | 51,201 | $915.8M | 218 | |
| 2 | Gas leaks | 40,896 | $385K | 0 | |
| 3 | Electrical / wiring | 29,153 | $1.9M | 0 | |
| 4 | Outdoor fires | 28,275 | $9.7M | 8 | |
| 5 | Wildland fires | 15,817 | $8.8M | 7 | |
| 6 | Vehicle fires | 13,562 | $161.4M | 54 | |
| 7 | Cooking-related | 8,210 | $1.0M | 0 | |
| 8 | Rubbish / refuse | 7,326 | $1.6M | 1 | |
| 9 | Arson | 3,852 | $30.2M | 4 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 18% of Wisconsin's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $14,571,284 | MILWAUKEE | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $7,600,000 | MILWAUKEE | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 3 | $6,000,000 | Strum | Fire, other | Catastrophic |
| 4 | $5,263,500 | Janesville | Fires in structures other than in a building | Catastrophic |
| 5 | $3,732,641 | MILWAUKEE | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $2,114,595 | MILWAUKEE | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $2,000,000 | Onalaska | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $2,000,000 | TBRIGHTON | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $2,000,000 | Osceola | Fires in structures other than in a building | Major |
| 10 | $2,000,000 | Beloit | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare Wisconsin apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milwaukee County | 6,456 | 933,171 |
| 2 | Dane County | 2,477 | 484,978 |
| 3 | Waukesha County | 2,214 | 331,311 |
| 4 | Brown County | 1,488 | 233,030 |
| 5 | Kenosha County | 1,392 | 160,423 |
| 6 | Racine County | 1,298 | 187,431 |
| 7 | Outagamie County | 1,245 | 135,027 |
| 8 | Rock County | 1,190 | 124,382 |
| 9 | Dodge County | 971 | 54,099 |
| 10 | Walworth County | 948 | 75,522 |
Top 10 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dodge County | 17.95 | 971 | 54,099 | |
| 2 | Walworth County | 12.55 | 948 | 75,522 | |
| 3 | Jefferson County | 11.97 | 782 | 65,305 | |
| 4 | Manitowoc County | 10.87 | 633 | 58,207 | |
| 5 | Fond du Lac County | 10.63 | 720 | 67,703 | |
| 6 | Rock County | 9.57 | 1,190 | 124,382 | |
| 7 | Outagamie County | 9.22 | 1,245 | 135,027 | |
| 8 | Kenosha County | 8.68 | 1,392 | 160,423 | |
| 9 | Sheboygan County | 8.45 | 712 | 84,252 | |
| 10 | Eau Claire County | 7.79 | 630 | 80,822 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | 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 |
118 perimeters and 8,472 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 51 | 5,522 | |
| 2020s | 67 | 2,950 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 12,122 | |
| 2000s | 14,023 | |
| 2010s | 10,383 | |
| 2020s | 1,663 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 38,191 ignitions total.
1,505 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 43 | |
| 10-19 | 50 | |
| 20-29 | 227 | |
| 30-39 | 274 | |
| 40-49 | 244 | |
| 50-59 | 180 | |
| 60-69 | 143 | |
| 70-79 | 106 | |
| 80+ | 36 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.