In 2025, fire departments serving Monroe responded to 386 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 71% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,263 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $15.3M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 445 | — | |
| 2022 | 435 | -2.2% | |
| 2023 | 603 | +38.6% | |
| 2024 | 394 | -34.7% | |
| 2025 | 386 | -2.0% |
For the 78 building fires Monroe departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 324 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 | 45 | 13.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 28 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 23 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 17 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 16 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 16 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 122 | 37.7% |
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 Monroe mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 131 | 40.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 28 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 28 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 20 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 19 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 14 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 10 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 41 | 12.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Monroe departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $521,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $56,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Monroe sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
22 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 4 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,039 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 | 10.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 7.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 14.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 12.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 13.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 43.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 38 | 44.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 30 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 30 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 22 | 28.9 mi |
Top 9 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 Monroe. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Monroe.
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.