In 2025, fire departments serving Benzonia responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
112 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $167K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 20 | — | |
| 2022 | 32 | +60.0% | |
| 2023* | 10 | — | |
| 2024 | 21 | — | |
| 2025 | 29 | +38.1% |
* Well below Benzonia'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 3 building fires Benzonia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 35 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 | 7 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 7 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 17.1% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 9 | Assembly area - less than 100 persons | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 8.6% |
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 Benzonia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 37.1% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 5.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Benzonia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,847 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 764 | 29.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 200 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 152 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 148 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 16.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 133 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 118 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 115 | 29.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 33.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 89 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 79 | 38.4 mi |
Top 2 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 Benzonia. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Benzonia.
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.