In 2025, fire departments serving Hubbard Lake responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $35K 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 80% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
71 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $369K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | — | |
| 2022 | 16 | -30.4% | |
| 2023 | 10 | -37.5% | |
| 2024* | 7 | — | |
| 2025 | 15 | — |
* Well below Hubbard Lake'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 5 building fires Hubbard Lake 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 | 6 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Storage area, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | 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 Hubbard Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hubbard Lake departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $18,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $18,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $6,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $6,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hubbard Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 29,651 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 8,586 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 5,818 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 5,200 | 29.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,238 | 44.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,035 | 28.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 840 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 31.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 778 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 687 | 36.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 628 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 531 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 472 | 12.6 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 49747 | 71 |
Six Michigan cities with population within ±25% of Hubbard Lake. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hubbard Lake.
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.