In 2025, fire departments serving Burton responded to 325 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 74% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,573 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $6.1M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 335 | — | |
| 2022 | 327 | -2.4% | |
| 2023 | 301 | -8.0% | |
| 2024 | 285 | -5.3% | |
| 2025 | 325 | +14.0% |
For the 32 building fires Burton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 399 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 | Undetermined | 106 | 26.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 57 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 49 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 18 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 14 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 13 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 98 | 24.6% |
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 Burton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 259 | 64.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 25 | 6.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 22 | 5.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 20 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 14 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Burton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 65% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $80,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Burton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
21 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,870 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 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 32.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 32.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 70 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 67 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 64 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 63 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 61 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 61 | 43.7 mi |
Top 8 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 Burton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Burton.
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.