In 2025, fire departments serving Grand Ledge responded to 147 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 60% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
860 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.9M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 144 | — | |
| 2022 | 139 | -3.5% | |
| 2023 | 236 | +69.8% | |
| 2024 | 194 | -17.8% | |
| 2025 | 147 | -24.2% |
For the 23 building fires Grand Ledge departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 124 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 | 33 | 26.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 7.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 9 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 9 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 36 | 29.0% |
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 Grand Ledge mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 46 | 37.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 20 | 16.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 8 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 16 | 12.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Grand Ledge departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $60,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Grand Ledge 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 | 1 | |
| 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. 1,969 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 191 | 26.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 33.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 28.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 42.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 39.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 61 | 29.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 26.5 mi |
Top 8 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 Grand Ledge. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Grand Ledge.
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.