In 2025, fire departments serving Grand Rapids responded to 2,090 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $800K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
11,384 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $41.6M cumulative property loss. 8 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2,156 | — | |
| 2022 | 2,311 | +7.2% | |
| 2023 | 2,244 | -2.9% | |
| 2024 | 2,583 | +15.1% | |
| 2025 | 2,090 | -19.1% |
For the 204 building fires Grand Rapids departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,913 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 | 433 | 22.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 264 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 132 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 78 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 67 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 66 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 60 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 55 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 55 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 50 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 653 | 34.1% |
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 Rapids mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 620 | 32.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 270 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 189 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 144 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 98 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 89 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 65 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 50 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 47 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 44 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 297 | 15.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Grand Rapids departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 45% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $800,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $643,280 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $607,500 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $482,715 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $297,653 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $276,628 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $225,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Grand Rapids sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
110 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 | 7 | |
| 10-19 | 7 | |
| 20-29 | 13 | |
| 30-39 | 33 | |
| 40-49 | 16 | |
| 50-59 | 18 | |
| 60-69 | 8 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,634 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 191 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 175 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 162 | 30.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 151 | 42.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 19.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 29.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 107 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 106 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 30.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 32.4 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.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Grand Rapids.
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.