In 2025, fire departments serving Essexville responded to 84 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 58% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
419 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 101 | — | |
| 2022 | 78 | -22.8% | |
| 2023 | 71 | -9.0% | |
| 2024 | 85 | +19.7% | |
| 2025 | 84 | -1.2% |
For the 12 building fires Essexville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 100 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 | Outside area, other | 18 | 18.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 15 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 15 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 9.0% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 19 | 19.0% |
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 Essexville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 43 | 43.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 9 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated heat from another fire | 7 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 6 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 8.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Essexville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Power line down | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $4,676 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $200 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Essexville 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,994 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 335 | 8.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 289 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 257 | 26.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 35.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 202 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 186 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 178 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 155 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 97 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 74 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 72 | 49.6 mi |
Top 4 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 Essexville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Essexville.
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.