In 2025, fire departments serving Fenton responded to 260 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K 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 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,325 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $6.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 321 | — | |
| 2022 | 271 | -15.6% | |
| 2023 | 247 | -8.9% | |
| 2024 | 226 | -8.5% | |
| 2025 | 260 | +15.0% |
For the 46 building fires Fenton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 285 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 | 54 | 18.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 35 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 27 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 24 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 20 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 16 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 9 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 8 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 71 | 24.9% |
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 Fenton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 136 | 47.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 32 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 18 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 8 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 7 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 6 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 29 | 10.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fenton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $308,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fenton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,554 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 20.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 18.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 64 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 61 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 51 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 28.4 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 Fenton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fenton.
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.