In 2025, fire departments serving Marathon County responded to 555 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $2.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips.
2,907 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 653 | |
| 2022 | 574 | |
| 2023 | 518 | |
| 2024 | 607 | |
| 2025 | 555 |
For the 165 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Marathon County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 79% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000,000 | TBRIGHTON | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $1,500,000 | Rothschild | Fires in structures other than in a building | Major |
| 3 | $1,090,224 | City of Wausau | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $300,000 | Halder | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $200,000 | City of Mosinee | Building fires | Significant |
| 6 | $200,000 | TBRIGHTON | Building fires | Significant |
| 7 | $150,000 | City of Colby | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $126,836 | City of Wausau | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $112,000 | City of Wausau | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant |
| 10 | $100,000 | Knowlton Census Desi | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 55073.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Wausau | 39,906 | View › |
| Weston | 15,698 | View › |
| Kronenwetter | 8,335 | View › |
| Rib Mountain | 6,153 | View › |
| Rothschild | 5,537 | View › |
| Mosinee | 4,467 | View › |
| Maine | 2,608 | View › |
| Schofield | 2,256 | View › |
| Abbotsford | 2,186 | View › |
| Colby | 2,132 | View › |
| Spencer | 1,669 | View › |
| Marathon City | 1,398 | View › |
19 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Necedah WL unit 23B RX | 2024 | FWS | 853 |
| 2 | WIHRR-FY19-RX-Cattail Desert North | 2019 | FWS | 536 |
| 3 | Peters WF | 2014 | FWS | 363 |
| 4 | WINCR-FY19-RX-Triangle Complex | 2019 | FWS | 355 |
| 5 | WISCR-FY19-RX-10 Mile | 2019 | FWS | 352 |
| 6 | WINCR-FY19-RX-PR19-20 | 2019 | FWS | 349 |
| 7 | WINCR-FY19-RX-PR28 | 2019 | FWS | 293 |
| 8 | WINCR-FY21-WF-Railroad 2 | 2021 | OTH | 267 |
| 9 | WISCR-FY19-RX-Erickson | 2019 | FWS | 249 |
| 10 | WIHRR-FY19-RX-Collien's Ditch South | 2019 | FWS | 224 |
County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.