In 2025, fire departments serving Milford responded to 56 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Milford's departments reported 56 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 94 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
468 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 103 | — | |
| 2022 | 86 | -16.5% | |
| 2023 | 119 | +38.4% | |
| 2024 | 104 | -12.6% | |
| 2025* | 56 | — |
* Well below Milford'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 Milford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 89 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 | Other | 14 | 15.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 10 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 10.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 21 | 23.6% |
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 Milford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 27.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 10 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 9.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 6 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 12.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Milford departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Milford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,871 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 26.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 17.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 64 | 41.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 35.4 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 Milford. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Milford.
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.