In 2025, fire departments serving Ann Arbor responded to 1,049 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
6,267 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $26.3M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,207 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,120 | -7.2% | |
| 2023 | 1,840 | +64.3% | |
| 2024 | 1,051 | -42.9% | |
| 2025 | 1,049 | -0.2% |
For the 91 building fires Ann Arbor departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 741 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 159 | 21.5% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 83 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 79 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 33 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 25 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 25 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 23 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 20 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 20 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 18 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 256 | 34.5% |
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 Ann Arbor mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 252 | 34.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 78 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 72 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 60 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 58 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 29 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 26 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 25 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 20 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 18 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 103 | 13.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ann Arbor departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 67% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $750,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $400,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ann Arbor sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
26 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,856 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 33.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 24.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 18.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 24.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 39.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 44.9 mi |
Top 10 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 Ann Arbor. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ann Arbor.
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.