In 2025, fire departments serving Waterbury responded to 325 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Waterbury's departments reported 325 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 1,040 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
5,198 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $8.0M cumulative property loss. 9 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,358 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,350 | -0.6% | |
| 2023 | 1,228 | -9.0% | |
| 2024 | 937 | -23.7% | |
| 2025* | 325 | — |
* Well below Waterbury's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 1 building fires Waterbury departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 641 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 160 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 92 | 14.4% | |
| 3 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 44 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 44 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 30 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 27 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 22 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 16 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 15 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 14 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 177 | 27.6% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Waterbury mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 270 | 42.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 110 | 17.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 53 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 38 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 37 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 33 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 12 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 10 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 10 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 53 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Waterbury departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Unauthorized burning | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Heat from short circuit (wiring), defective/worn | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Waterbury sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
29 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,758 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,050 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 15.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 992 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 550 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 384 | 22.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 361 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 285 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 277 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 46.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 8.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 180 | 8.2 mi |
Top 9 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Connecticut cities with population within ±25% of Waterbury. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.