In 2025, fire departments serving Jackson responded to 902 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $4.0M 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 64% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
5,811 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $14.8M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,236 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,431 | +15.8% | |
| 2023 | 1,525 | +6.6% | |
| 2024 | 717 | -53.0% | |
| 2025 | 902 | +25.8% |
For the 226 building fires Jackson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,410 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 | 365 | 25.9% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 198 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 179 | 12.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 78 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 67 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Other | 54 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 33 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 33 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 28 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 27 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 348 | 24.7% |
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 Jackson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 826 | 58.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 76 | 5.4% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 72 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 63 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 52 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 49 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 34 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 28 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Match | 28 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 22 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 160 | 11.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Jackson departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 82% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Jackson 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 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,778 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 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 34.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 33.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 18.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 9.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 49.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 30.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 40.3 mi |
Top 10 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 Jackson. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Jackson.
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.