In 2025, fire departments serving Ionia responded to 193 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $123K 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 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
834 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.7M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 202 | — | |
| 2022 | 141 | -30.2% | |
| 2023 | 108 | -23.4% | |
| 2024 | 190 | +75.9% | |
| 2025 | 193 | +1.6% |
For the 36 building fires Ionia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 133 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 | 24 | 18.0% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 20 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Other | 9 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 8 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 33 | 24.8% |
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 Ionia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 63 | 47.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 10 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 9 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ionia departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $123,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $120,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $40,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ionia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,146 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 | 11.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 162 | 42.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 13.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 42.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 96 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 44.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Smoking | 90 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 38.1 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 Ionia. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ionia.
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.