In 2025, fire departments serving Waterville responded to 143 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,014 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $718K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 167 | — | |
| 2022 | 212 | +26.9% | |
| 2023 | 278 | +31.1% | |
| 2024 | 214 | -23.0% | |
| 2025 | 143 | -33.2% |
For the 11 building fires Waterville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 78 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 | 19 | 24.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 10 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Egress/exit, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 20 | 25.6% |
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 Waterville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 32.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 9 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 6 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 8 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 1.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Waterville departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Waterville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 813 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 48 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 43 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 27.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 19.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 35 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 34 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 32 | 38.0 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 04901 | 1,014 |
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Waterville. 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.