In 2025, fire departments serving Cass City responded to 67 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
132 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $192K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022* | 14 | — | |
| 2023 | 18 | — | |
| 2024 | 17 | -5.6% | |
| 2025 | 67 | +294.1% |
* Well below Cass 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 9 building fires Cass City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | 4 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Storage area, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 12.5% |
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 Cass City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cass City departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $6,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cass City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,097 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 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 257 | 21.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 202 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 116 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 70 | 2.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 67 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 66 | 25.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 65 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 64 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 63 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 61 | 29.7 mi |
Top 3 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 Cass City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cass 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.