In 2025, fire departments serving Muskegon responded to 1,027 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 66% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,135 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.7M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 599 | — | |
| 2022 | 616 | +2.8% | |
| 2023 | 812 | +31.8% | |
| 2024 | 1,081 | +33.1% | |
| 2025 | 1,027 | -5.0% |
For the 69 building fires Muskegon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 535 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 | 92 | 17.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 59 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 44 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 34 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 31 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 30 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 26 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 17 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 14 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 14 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 174 | 32.5% |
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 Muskegon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 227 | 42.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 47 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 41 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 39 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 30 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 23 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 15 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 12 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 12 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 78 | 14.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Muskegon departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 58% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $78,388 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Muskegon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
21 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,270 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 910 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 10.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 175 | 4.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 162 | 31.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 151 | 17.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 107 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 106 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 30.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 96 | 41.9 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 Muskegon. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Muskegon.
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.