In 2025, fire departments serving Iron Mountain responded to 162 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 85% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
565 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $9.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 103 | — | |
| 2022 | 105 | +1.9% | |
| 2023 | 95 | -9.5% | |
| 2024 | 100 | +5.3% | |
| 2025 | 162 | +62.0% |
For the 18 building fires Iron Mountain departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 79 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 15.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 10 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 6 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 7.6% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Entrance way, lobby | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 20 | 25.3% |
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 Iron Mountain mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 26 | 32.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 14 | 17.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 10.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Iron Mountain departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Iron Mountain sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,337 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,625 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 806 | 40.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 154 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 134 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 129 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 110 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 103 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 103 | 5.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 103 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 97 | 43.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 87 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 85 | 23.5 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 Iron Mountain. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Iron Mountain.
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.