In 2025, fire departments serving Boyne City responded to 82 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 87% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
278 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 86 | — | |
| 2023 | 49 | -43.0% | |
| 2024 | 52 | +6.1% | |
| 2025 | 82 | +57.7% |
* Well below Boyne City'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 4 building fires Boyne City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 45 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 | Other | 5 | 11.1% | |
| 2 | Storage area, other | 4 | 8.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 4 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 26.7% |
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 Boyne City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 24.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 4 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 8.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 8.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Boyne City departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,500 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Boyne City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,375 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,250 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,900 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1,345 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 1,040 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 844 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 817 | 35.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 628 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 484 | 32.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 209 | 35.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 160 | 47.2 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 49712 | 278 |
Six Michigan cities with population within ±25% of Boyne City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Boyne 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.