In 2025, fire departments serving Marquette responded to 260 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 73% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,108 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.8M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 210 | — | |
| 2022 | 221 | +5.2% | |
| 2023 | 221 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 196 | -11.3% | |
| 2025 | 260 | +32.7% |
For the 10 building fires Marquette departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 130 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 | 31 | 23.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 13 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 33 | 25.4% |
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 Marquette mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 68 | 52.3% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 8 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Marquette departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $55,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,200 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Marquette sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,860 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 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 806 | 20.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 154 | 11.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 103 | 28.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 87 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 85 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 85 | 42.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 84 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 62 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 20.2 mi |
Top 2 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 Marquette. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Marquette.
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.