In 2025, fire departments serving Garden City responded to 159 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $160K 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 72% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,317 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 269 | — | |
| 2022 | 246 | -8.6% | |
| 2023 | 403 | +63.8% | |
| 2024 | 240 | -40.4% | |
| 2025 | 159 | -33.8% |
For the 35 building fires Garden City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 224 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 | 46 | 20.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 23 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 18 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 17 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 16 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 14 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 60 | 26.8% |
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 Garden City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 95 | 42.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 27 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 13 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 10 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 9 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 22 | 9.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Garden City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $160,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Garden City sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,550 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 35.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 38.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 51 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 25.8 mi |
Top 7 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 Garden City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Garden City.
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.