In 2025, fire departments serving Dollar Bay responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
42 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $286K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 7 | +16.7% | |
| 2025 | 21 | +200.0% |
* Well below Dollar Bay'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 Dollar Bay departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Wall assembly | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Dollar Bay mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dollar Bay departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dollar Bay sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 22 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,376 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1,127 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 700 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 3.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 388 | 11.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 148 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 119 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 106 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 58 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Fireworks | 43 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 38 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 31 | 18.7 mi |
Top 2 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 Dollar Bay. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dollar Bay.
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.