Firefighters in Wausau Saturday responded to another structure fire. Crews were able to respond to the fire quickly at 1:24 pm and put it out before it fully engulfed the building, according to a city press release.
That fire comes as the number of fires and other non-EMS calls Wausau Fire Department has been responding to have been on the rise recently.
Just in terms of non-EMS calls on a yearly basis, that number was 677 in 2022. In 2025, that number rose to 866.
And the department has responded to 45 fire incidents in the first half of 2026. That’s a lot, considering the department responded to a total of 73 fire calls in all of 2025.
Fire calls this year included Dave Junion’s studio, a garage fire, house fires, and even a fatal house fire.
A common saying about modern fire departments is that they’re often ambulance services first, since that’s the majority of calls.
And while that’s certainly still true, fire calls are taking up more of Wausau FD’s time this year, and [structure fires can require considerably more personnel and apparatus than routine EMS calls]. Saturday’s fire involved all three stations, for instance.
It’ll be interesting to observe the impact that brings.
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