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2025 County Report

Fires in Waukesha County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Waukesha County responded to 2,214 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $800K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

331,311 residents FIPS 55133 50 cities · 20 fire depts
Total incidents
2,214
11,438 across 5 years
Building fires
435
139 wildland
Property loss
$12.2M
$9.0M structure · $3.2M contents
Casualties
3 / 10
3 civ deaths · 4 civ inj · 6 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

2,214
Total Incidents
Building fires 435 19.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 329 14.9%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 166 7.5%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 161 7.3%
Power line down 145 6.5%
All other categories 978 44.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Waukesha County?

Jul peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 159
Feb 110
Mar 219
Apr 185
May 158
Jun 194
Jul 284
Aug 264
Sep 180
Oct 150
Nov 173
Dec 138
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Waukesha County

11,438 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,274
2022 2,264
2023 2,208
2024 2,478
2025 2,214
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 435 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
54%
205
Cause undetermined
15%
57
Intentional / arson
7%
25
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
40
Under investigation
10%
37
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
6
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $4.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Waukesha County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 47% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $800,000 NEW BERLIN Building fires Major
2 $616,000 Hartland Building fires Major
3 $500,000 Delafield Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
4 $500,000 Eagle Outside equipment fire Major
5 $400,000 Pewaukee Building fires Major
6 $346,100 Merton Town Building fires Major
7 $287,700 Pewaukee Building fires Major
8 $260,000 Waukesha Building fires Major
9 $250,000 Dousman Village Building fires Major
10 $250,000 Pewaukee Building fires Major
06 How Waukesha County compares

Waukesha County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.68
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Waukesha County
6.68
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
1.31
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Waukesha County
1.31
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
9.1
Civilian fire deaths per million
Waukesha County
9.1
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Waukesha County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55133.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Waukesha County

20 departments report from this county.

Waukesha Fire Dept
Waukesha
FDID 67060 364 incidents
Western Lake Fire District
DOUSMAN
FDID 67130 275 incidents 1 paid
New Berlin Fire Dept
New Berlin
FDID 67010 257 incidents
MENOMONEE FALLS FIRE DEPT
Menomonee Falls
FDID 67030 247 incidents 66 paid
Lake Country Fire and Rescue
Hartland
FDID 67210 203 incidents
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.