In 2025, fire departments serving Greenville responded to 148 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
923 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 155 | — | |
| 2022 | 173 | +11.6% | |
| 2023 | 215 | +24.3% | |
| 2024 | 232 | +7.9% | |
| 2025 | 148 | -36.2% |
For the 17 building fires Greenville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 99 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 | 22 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 8 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Exterior, exposed surface | 5 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 27 | 27.3% |
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 Greenville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 40 | 40.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 6 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 5 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 5 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Conducted heat from another fire | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 14.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Greenville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $6,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $200 | Cultivated grain or crop fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Greenville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,641 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 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 191 | 16.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 175 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 162 | 25.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 151 | 49.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 7.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 35.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 107 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 106 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 26.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 12.8 mi |
Top 2 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 Greenville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Greenville.
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.