In 2025, fire departments serving Kentwood responded to 392 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 55% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,899 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $8.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 373 | — | |
| 2022 | 328 | -12.1% | |
| 2023 | 398 | +21.3% | |
| 2024 | 408 | +2.5% | |
| 2025 | 392 | -3.9% |
For the 22 building fires Kentwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 413 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 | 80 | 19.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 52 | 12.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 37 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 23 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 17 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 16 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 16 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 13 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 13 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 132 | 32.0% |
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 Kentwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 120 | 29.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 56 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 36 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 33 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 32 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 24 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 18 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 15 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 14 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 51 | 12.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kentwood departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $29,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kentwood sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
24 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 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 9 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,576 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 191 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 175 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 162 | 35.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 151 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 19.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 23.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 107 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 35.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 35.7 mi |
Top 5 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 Kentwood. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kentwood.
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.