Burnett County, Wisconsin · Siren
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With 18% of homes built before 1960 and about 93 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 5.5 times a year here, most often in July. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Burnett County gets about 5.5 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Burnett County, 3.96 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
65% of occupied homes in Burnett County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Wisconsin county median of 32.9%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 6 times a year in Burnett County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 16,916 people live in Burnett County, 822 square miles in northwest Wisconsin, in roughly 15,396 homes. Besides Siren, the county seat, the biggest communities are Grantsburg, Webster and Danbury. Half the homes here were built before 1983, half after.
37/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Burnett County ranks 64 of 72 Wisconsin counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Burnett County ranks highest compared with other Wisconsin counties.
Burnett County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Wisconsin. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 93 nights a year at or below 20°F (14th of 72) and 168 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 32 days below freezing (ending March 2019), and the low bottomed out near -35°F on January 31, 2019.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs November to April. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 8 and end around May 7.
Burnett gets fewer downpours than most Wisconsin counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 32.3 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 5.5 days of an inch or more (49th of 72). Those downpours cluster in July, August and September, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 3.96 inches on July 12, 2016. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.58 inches, ending July 12, 2016, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 93 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
Roughly 46% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Burnett among the newer housing stocks of Wisconsin's 72 counties.
Growth since 2000 added 26% of today's homes. In houses that new, the weak points are washing machine hoses, ice maker lines, water heaters and sump pumps rather than the pipes in the walls.
About 28% of homes went up between 1980 and 1999. Some houses from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s were plumbed with polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe known for failing at fittings. A plumber can tell you in a few minutes whether you have it.
Here 9% of housing is manufactured homes. Check the skirting and the heat tape on the main water line every fall, because that one exposed line is what freezes.
53% of homes were vacant at survey time. A leak in an empty rental or seasonal house can run for days before anyone notices, which is why those losses tend to be larger.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 6 times a year here, below the Wisconsin county median of 11. Keep indoor humidity under 60%, as the EPA advises, and dry any leak within 24 to 48 hours; in a humid month a wet basement left alone won't dry by itself.
Mold remediation: what to expectBy main heating fuel, Burnett County homes break down as 21% utility gas, 11% electric, 54% propane and 12% wood. Wood and propane heat are more common here than the state median. Have chimneys swept and fuel-burning appliances serviced each fall, and keep three feet clear around stoves and space heaters.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Burnett County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Douglas and Washburn get more pipe-freeze nights than Burnett. Douglas County has the oldest housing nearby, with 66% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Burnett | Wisconsin median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 18% | 31% | 69 of 72 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 46% | 54% | 64 of 72 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 26% | 21% | 10 of 72 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 8.9% | 4.8% | 12 of 72 |
| Vacant homes | 53% | 12% | 3 of 72 |
| Wood or propane heat | 65% | 33% | 3 of 72 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 93/yr | 73/yr | 14 of 72 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5.5/yr | 6.3/yr | 49 of 72 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 93/yr | 94/yr | 38 of 72 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 6/yr | 11/yr | 49 of 72 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Wisconsin county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Burnett County: freezing from November to April, heavy rain in July, August and September.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024); weather from NOAA nClimGrid-Daily county averages (EpiNOAA), 2015–2024, averaged across the county; county boundaries from Census TIGER. Reviewed 2026-10-21. Methodology