In 2025, fire departments serving Bay City responded to 429 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $639K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,690 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $7.0M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 685 | — | |
| 2022 | 634 | -7.4% | |
| 2023 | 456 | -28.1% | |
| 2024 | 486 | +6.6% | |
| 2025 | 429 | -11.7% |
For the 50 building fires Bay City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 543 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 | 78 | 14.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 56 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 50 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 49 | 9.0% | |
| 5 | Other | 35 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 32 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 17 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 16 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 16 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 14 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 180 | 33.1% |
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 Bay City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 244 | 44.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 40 | 7.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 36 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 32 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 24 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 21 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 20 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 19 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Match | 11 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 73 | 13.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bay City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 77% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $638,800 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $138,400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $108,000 | Self-propelled motor home or recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $102,700 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $54,390 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $46,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bay City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,978 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 335 | 10.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 289 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 257 | 29.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 202 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 186 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 178 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 155 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 97 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 74 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 72 | 49.2 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 Bay City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bay City.
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.