In 2025, fire departments serving Lansing responded to 68 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
263 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $782K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55 | — | |
| 2022 | 43 | -21.8% | |
| 2023* | 31 | — | |
| 2024 | 66 | — | |
| 2025 | 68 | +3.0% |
* Well below Lansing'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 6 building fires Lansing 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 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 Lansing mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 46.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 6.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lansing sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,807 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 694 | 31.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 85 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 53 | 44.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 52 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 44.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 49 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 44 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 40 | 44.9 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 New York cities with population within ±25% of Lansing. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lansing.
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.