In 2025, fire departments serving Big Rapids responded to 249 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $88K 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.
Dec peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,124 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $514K cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 209 | — | |
| 2022 | 221 | +5.7% | |
| 2023 | 229 | +3.6% | |
| 2024 | 216 | -5.7% | |
| 2025 | 249 | +15.3% |
For the 26 building fires Big Rapids departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 258 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 | Outside area, other | 46 | 17.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 41 | 15.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 27 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 12 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 9 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 65 | 25.2% |
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 Big Rapids mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 150 | 58.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 6.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 14 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 5 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 22 | 8.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Big Rapids departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $88,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $28,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Big Rapids sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,683 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 910 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 764 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 40.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 200 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 191 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 175 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 162 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 153 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 152 | 22.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 151 | 37.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 133 | 36.2 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 Big Rapids. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Big Rapids.
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.