In 2025, fire departments serving East Lansing responded to 213 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $486K 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 70% of all calls.
May peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,343 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.4M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 293 | — | |
| 2022 | 265 | -9.6% | |
| 2023 | 263 | -0.8% | |
| 2024 | 309 | +17.5% | |
| 2025 | 213 | -31.1% |
For the 22 building fires East Lansing departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 161 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 | 33 | 20.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 21 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 12 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 8 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Exterior, exposed surface | 8 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 8 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Other | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 50 | 31.1% |
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 East Lansing mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 37 | 23.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 25 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 17 | 10.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 17 | 10.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 20 | 12.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by East Lansing departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $485,662 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $172,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $99,256 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $27,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. East Lansing sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,031 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 191 | 34.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 20.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 18.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 29.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 44.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 32.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 9.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 13.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 61 | 28.0 mi |
Top 8 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 East Lansing. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in East Lansing.
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.