In 2025, fire departments serving Gaylord responded to 288 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2K 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 78% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
983 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $118K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 193 | — | |
| 2022 | 139 | -28.0% | |
| 2023 | 140 | +0.7% | |
| 2024 | 223 | +59.3% | |
| 2025 | 288 | +29.1% |
For the 12 building fires Gaylord departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | 4 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 12.5% |
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 Gaylord mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 75.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gaylord departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gaylord 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 36,286 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 8,586 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 5,818 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 5,200 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,250 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,900 | 14.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1,345 | 27.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,238 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 1,040 | 28.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,035 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 844 | 20.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 840 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 42.3 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 Gaylord. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Gaylord.
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.