In 2025, fire departments serving Homer responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 85% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
118 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $379K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 32 | — | |
| 2022 | 15 | -53.1% | |
| 2023 | 30 | +100.0% | |
| 2024 | 15 | -50.0% | |
| 2025 | 26 | +73.3% |
For the 12 building fires Homer departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | 6 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Incinerator area | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Homer mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 52.9% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Homer departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Homer sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,484 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 154 | 24.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 16.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 38.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 57 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 32.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 51 | 41.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 44.2 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 Homer. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Homer.
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.