In 2025, fire departments serving Howell responded to 274 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 46% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,873 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $13.0M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 481 | — | |
| 2022 | 336 | -30.1% | |
| 2023 | 441 | +31.2% | |
| 2024 | 341 | -22.7% | |
| 2025 | 274 | -19.6% |
For the 22 building fires Howell departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 465 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 61 | 13.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 60 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 51 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 38 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 28 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 24 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 24 | 5.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Other | 11 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 140 | 30.1% |
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 Howell mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 163 | 35.1% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 50 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 45 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 41 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 32 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 14 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 14 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 65 | 14.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Howell departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Howell sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,612 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 9.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 1.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 30.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 61 | 48.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 51 | 9.9 mi |
Top 9 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 Howell. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Howell.
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.