In 2025, fire departments serving Morenci responded to 41 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K 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 81% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
198 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $600K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 45 | — | |
| 2022 | 51 | +13.3% | |
| 2023* | 21 | — | |
| 2024 | 40 | — | |
| 2025 | 41 | +2.5% |
* Well below Morenci'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 18 building fires Morenci 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 | Undetermined | 6 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 10.0% |
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 Morenci mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 45.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Candle | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Morenci departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Morenci sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,073 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 | 43.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 32.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 8.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 | 40.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 36 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 35 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 34.0 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 Morenci. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Morenci.
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.