In 2025, fire departments serving Holland responded to 652 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $450K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,943 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $13.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 565 | — | |
| 2022 | 506 | -10.4% | |
| 2023 | 587 | +16.0% | |
| 2024 | 633 | +7.8% | |
| 2025 | 652 | +3.0% |
For the 96 building fires Holland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 589 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 | 119 | 20.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 87 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 47 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 37 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 26 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 23 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 18 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 15 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 14 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 14 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 189 | 32.1% |
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 Holland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 231 | 39.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 80 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 55 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 35 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 19 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 19 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 14 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 14 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 12 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 92 | 15.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Holland departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 72% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $450,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $440,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $375,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $204,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Holland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
32 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 9 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 7 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,204 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 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 175 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 162 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 151 | 48.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 45.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 44.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 107 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Smoking | 90 | 13.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 71 | 10.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 66 | 18.7 mi |
Top 6 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 Holland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Holland.
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.