In 2025, fire departments serving Waterville responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
118 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 12 | — | |
| 2022 | 32 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | -34.4% | |
| 2024 | 32 | +52.4% | |
| 2025 | 21 | -34.4% |
* Well below Waterville'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 2 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 57 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 | Undetermined | 15 | 26.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 17.5% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 8 | 14.0% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 8.8% | |
| 6 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 3.5% |
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 | 44 | 77.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 5 | Match | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 1.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Waterville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,263,201 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 223,731 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 140,000 | 17.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 88,483 | 11.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80,053 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 76,817 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 71,209 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 65,621 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 55,913 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 43,874 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 43,373 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 41,404 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 37,266 | 20.3 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Washington 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.