In 2025, fire departments serving Douglas responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 78% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
102 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $150K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 26 | — | |
| 2022 | 27 | +3.8% | |
| 2023 | 13 | -51.9% | |
| 2024 | 13 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 23 | +76.9% |
For the 2 building fires Douglas departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | 4 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 10.0% |
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 Douglas mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 10.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Douglas sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,461 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 175 | 43.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Smoking | 90 | 16.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 71 | 10.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 66 | 15.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 59 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 6.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 43 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 43 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 11.4 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 | 49406 | 102 |
Six Michigan cities with population within ±25% of Douglas. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.