In 2025, fire departments serving Michigan Center responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2K 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 82% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
76 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $182K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 24 | +41.2% | |
| 2023 | 15 | -37.5% | |
| 2024* | 9 | — | |
| 2025 | 11 | — |
* Well below Michigan Center'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 4 building fires Michigan Center departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Michigan Center mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Michigan Center departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Michigan Center sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,733 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 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 33.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 31.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 13.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 7.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 45.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 30.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 40.7 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 Michigan cities with population within ±25% of Michigan Center. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Michigan Center.
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.