In 2025, fire departments serving Hamtramck responded to 207 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $492K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
652 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 64 | — | |
| 2022* | 75 | — | |
| 2023 | 115 | — | |
| 2024 | 191 | +66.1% | |
| 2025 | 207 | +8.4% |
* Well below Hamtramck's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 27 building fires Hamtramck departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 70 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 | 31.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 10 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Interior stairway or ramp | 4 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Egress/exit, other | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 14.3% |
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 Hamtramck mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 48 | 68.6% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 1.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hamtramck departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $492,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $492,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $492,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $141,100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hamtramck sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,168 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 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 25.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 38 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 33 | 46.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 30 | 29.8 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 Hamtramck. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hamtramck.
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.