In 2025, fire departments serving Hastings responded to 297 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,070 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $5.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 224 | — | |
| 2022 | 172 | -23.2% | |
| 2023 | 150 | -12.8% | |
| 2024 | 227 | +51.3% | |
| 2025 | 297 | +30.8% |
For the 20 building fires Hastings departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 200 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 | 31 | 15.5% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 23 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 15 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 11 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Other | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 61 | 30.5% |
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 Hastings mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 83 | 41.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 21 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 13 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Match | 7 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 30 | 15.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hastings departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hastings sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,709 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 | 36.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 29.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 2.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 26.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 49.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Smoking | 90 | 30.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 49.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 71 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 66 | 35.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 60 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 57 | 8.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 14.6 mi |
Top 3 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 Hastings. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hastings.
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.