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2025 County Report

Fires in Waupaca County, WI

In 2025, fire departments serving Waupaca County responded to 442 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

28,381 residents FIPS 55135 30 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
442
2,181 across 5 years
Building fires
124
50 wildland
Property loss
$4.5M
$3.6M structure · $904K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.

442
Total Incidents
Building fires 124 28.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 45 10.2%
Power line down 43 9.7%
Carbon monoxide incident 31 7.0%
Passenger vehicle fire 23 5.2%
All other categories 176 39.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Waupaca County?

Jan peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 64
Feb 24
Mar 34
Apr 33
May 58
Jun 37
Jul 31
Aug 51
Sep 18
Oct 36
Nov 45
Dec 11
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Waupaca County

2,181 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 375
2022 454
2023 453
2024 457
2025 442
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 124 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
57%
50
Cause undetermined
25%
22
Intentional / arson
5%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
6
Under investigation
6%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Waupaca County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 56% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Village of Iola Building fires Major
2 $250,000 Weyauwega Building fires Major
3 $200,000 Weyauwega Building fires Significant
4 $200,000 Scandinavia Building fires Significant
5 $180,000 weyuawega Building fires Significant
6 $180,000 Fremont Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $180,000 Fremont Fire, other Significant
8 $180,000 Fremont Building fires Significant
9 $180,000 Weyauwega Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
10 $150,000 Clintonville Building fires Significant
06 How Waupaca County compares

Waupaca County vs WI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

15.57
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Waupaca County
15.57
WI avg
8.73
US avg
7.15
4.37
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Waupaca County
4.37
WI avg
1.73
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Waupaca County
0
WI avg
14.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Waupaca County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 55135.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Waupaca County

13 departments report from this county.

Waupaca Area Fire Dist
Waupaca
FDID 68010 106 incidents
NEW LONDON VOL FIRE DEPT
NEW LONDON
FDID 68120 60 incidents
Clintonville Vol Fire Dept
Clintonville
FDID 68070 42 incidents
Weyauwega Area Fire Dist
Weyauwega
FDID 68090 40 incidents
MARION VOL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 68040 35 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.