In 2025, fire departments serving Litchfield responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $70K 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 92% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
92 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $519K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 42 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | -71.4% | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | 24 | — | |
| 2025 | 12 | -50.0% |
* Well below Litchfield'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 Litchfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | 5 | 41.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Litchfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 58.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Litchfield departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Litchfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,374 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 | 20.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 40.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 24.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 37.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 39.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 51 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 43 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Fireworks | 40 | 32.6 mi |
Top 4 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 Litchfield. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Litchfield.
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.