In 2025, fire departments serving Coldwater responded to 219 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.5M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
966 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 189 | — | |
| 2022 | 158 | -16.4% | |
| 2023 | 220 | +39.2% | |
| 2024 | 180 | -18.2% | |
| 2025 | 219 | +21.7% |
For the 47 building fires Coldwater departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 379 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 | 60 | 15.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 55 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 54 | 14.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 29 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 19 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 18 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 106 | 28.0% |
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 Coldwater mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 169 | 44.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 52 | 13.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 36 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 16 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Match | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 48 | 12.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Coldwater departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Coldwater sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 964 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 154 | 8.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 26.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Fireworks | 40 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 | 41.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 36 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 35 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 33 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 30 | 30.4 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 Coldwater. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Coldwater.
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.