In 2025, fire departments serving Wausau responded to 193 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.1M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,224 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $6.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 317 | — | |
| 2022 | 268 | -15.5% | |
| 2023 | 221 | -17.5% | |
| 2024 | 225 | +1.8% | |
| 2025 | 193 | -14.2% |
For the 47 building fires Wausau departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 306 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 | 48 | 15.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 42 | 13.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 29 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 14 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 14 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 14 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 12 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 12 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 11 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 102 | 33.3% |
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 Wausau mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 127 | 41.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 22 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 21 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 18 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 15 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 4.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 6 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 37 | 12.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wausau departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 88% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,090,224 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $126,836 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $112,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $93,450 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $51,780 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $46,901 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $37,400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $29,061 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wausau sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
20 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 | 3 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,290 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 42.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 187 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 170 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 153 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 109 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 101 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 94 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 91 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 88 | 16.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 82 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 82 | 16.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 81 | 24.6 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Wisconsin cities with population within ±25% of Wausau. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wausau.
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.