In 2025, fire departments serving Midland responded to 805 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $800K 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 65% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,647 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $8.5M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 825 | — | |
| 2022 | 600 | -27.3% | |
| 2023 | 554 | -7.7% | |
| 2024 | 863 | +55.8% | |
| 2025 | 805 | -6.7% |
For the 38 building fires Midland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 458 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 | 81 | 17.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 60 | 13.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 41 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 28 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 22 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 20 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 157 | 34.3% |
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 Midland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 149 | 32.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 58 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 48 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 42 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 26 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 18 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 16 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 9 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 62 | 13.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Midland departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 87% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $800,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $210,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $112,350 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $102,060 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $62,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Midland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
25 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,777 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,557 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 335 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 331 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 289 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 257 | 42.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 41.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 202 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 186 | 13.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 178 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 155 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 97 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 25.0 mi |
Top 10 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 Midland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Midland.
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.