In 2025, fire departments serving Dowagiac responded to 234 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $450K 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 78% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,189 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5.6M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 233 | — | |
| 2022 | 270 | +15.9% | |
| 2023 | 224 | -17.0% | |
| 2024 | 228 | +1.8% | |
| 2025 | 234 | +2.6% |
For the 33 building fires Dowagiac departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 205 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 | 44 | 21.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 25 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Other | 10 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 53 | 25.9% |
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 Dowagiac mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 82 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 16 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 15 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 8 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 7 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 24 | 11.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dowagiac departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $450,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dowagiac sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 838 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Smoking | 90 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 71 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 66 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 40.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Smoking | 41 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 40.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 40 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Fireworks | 40 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 34 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 33 | 47.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 30 | 45.7 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 Dowagiac. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dowagiac.
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.