In 2025, fire departments serving Albion responded to 186 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $130K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
915 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $3.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 220 | — | |
| 2022 | 164 | -25.5% | |
| 2023 | 184 | +12.2% | |
| 2024 | 161 | -12.5% | |
| 2025 | 186 | +15.5% |
For the 39 building fires Albion departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 224 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 | 36 | 16.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 31 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 28 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 15 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 12 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 10 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Other | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 57 | 25.4% |
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 Albion mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 101 | 45.1% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 7.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 11 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 10 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 10 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 37 | 16.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Albion departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $130,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $49,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Albion sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,812 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 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 30.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 35.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 26.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 39.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 57 | 38.4 mi |
Top 6 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 Albion. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Albion.
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.