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2025 County Report

Fires in Washington County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Washington County responded to 684 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $750K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

100,336 residents FIPS 55131 40 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
684
3,173 across 5 years
Building fires
193
61 wildland
Property loss
$5.8M
$4.5M structure · $1.3M contents
Casualties
0 / 4
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 4 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.

684
Total Incidents
Building fires 193 28.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 75 11.0%
Carbon monoxide incident 58 8.5%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 35 5.1%
Grass fire 27 3.9%
All other categories 296 43.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Washington County?

May peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 53
Feb 50
Mar 63
Apr 61
May 88
Jun 46
Jul 61
Aug 53
Sep 53
Oct 49
Nov 75
Dec 32
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Washington County

3,173 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 706
2022 577
2023 543
2024 663
2025 684
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 193 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
59%
85
Cause undetermined
13%
19
Intentional / arson
8%
12
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
20
Under investigation
6%
8
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Washington County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 74% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $750,000 Colgate Building fires Major
2 $500,000 WEST BEND Building fires Major
3 $500,000 Hubertus Building fires Major
4 $400,000 Hubertus Building fires Major
5 $350,000 Village of Jackson Building fires Major
6 $200,000 Saint Lawrence Building fires Significant
7 $200,000 Saint Lawrence Building fires Significant
8 $175,000 Kewaskum Building fires Significant
9 $150,000 Allenton Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 West Bend Building fires Significant
06 How Washington County compares

Washington County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.82
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Washington County
6.82
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
1.92
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Washington County
1.92
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Washington County
0
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Washington County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55131.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Washington County

13 departments report from this county.

West Bend Fire Dept
West Bend
FDID 66010 141 incidents
Jackson Fire Dept
—
FDID 66060 101 incidents
Germantown Fire Dept
—
FDID 66160 88 incidents
Slinger Fire Dept
Slinger
FDID 66120 76 incidents 50 vol
Richfield Fire Dept
RICHFIELD
FDID 66100 56 incidents 2 paid
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in WI

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
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

About this data

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.