In 2025, fire departments serving Harrisville responded to 39 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 75% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
87 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $34K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 15 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | -6.7% | |
| 2024 | 15 | +7.1% | |
| 2025 | 39 | +160.0% |
* Well below Harrisville'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 8 building fires Harrisville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 5 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Other | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Closet | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Harrisville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Harrisville departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Harrisville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,147 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 5,818 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 5,200 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,035 | 37.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 840 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 531 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 472 | 17.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 289 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 270 | 16.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 43.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 239 | 17.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 202 | 49.4 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 Harrisville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Harrisville.
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.