In 2025, fire departments serving Addison responded to 60 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
322 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $425K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 95 | — | |
| 2022 | 84 | -11.6% | |
| 2023 | 52 | -38.1% | |
| 2024* | 31 | — | |
| 2025 | 60 | — |
* Well below Addison's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 5 building fires Addison departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 23 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Other | 6 | 26.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 4.3% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Addison mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 52.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 4.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Addison departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $35,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $4,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $400 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Addison sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,454 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 154 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 20.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 23.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 12.0 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Michigan cities with population within ±25% of Addison. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Addison.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.