In 2025, fire departments serving Flint responded to 1,197 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
7,227 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $49.0M cumulative property loss. 23 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,625 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,549 | -4.7% | |
| 2023 | 1,610 | +3.9% | |
| 2024 | 1,246 | -22.6% | |
| 2025 | 1,197 | -3.9% |
For the 312 building fires Flint departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3,370 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 | 1,022 | 30.3% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 265 | 7.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 222 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 198 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 177 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 144 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 105 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 86 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 82 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 78 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 991 | 29.4% |
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 Flint mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 2,639 | 78.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 104 | 3.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 88 | 2.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 77 | 2.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated heat from another fire | 62 | 1.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 61 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 53 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 49 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 42 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 25 | 0.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 170 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Flint departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 50% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $435,328 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $312,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $200,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $138,898 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Flint sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
86 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 | 5 | |
| 10-19 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 18 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 17 | |
| 50-59 | 15 | |
| 60-69 | 7 | |
| 70-79 | 7 | |
| 80+ | 7 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,870 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 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 31.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 32.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 70 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 67 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 64 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 63 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 61 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 61 | 41.4 mi |
Top 10 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 Flint. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Flint.
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.