In 2025, fire departments serving Novi responded to 258 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,690 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $6.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 378 | — | |
| 2022 | 317 | -16.1% | |
| 2023 | 420 | +32.5% | |
| 2024 | 317 | -24.5% | |
| 2025 | 258 | -18.6% |
For the 15 building fires Novi departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 448 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 | 101 | 22.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 58 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 53 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 35 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 23 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 9 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 120 | 26.8% |
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 Novi mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 102 | 22.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 88 | 19.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 58 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 47 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 28 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 19 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 15 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 12 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Arcing | 10 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 53 | 11.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Novi departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $225,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Novi sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,791 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 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 33.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 24.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 35.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 64 | 46.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 51 | 34.1 mi |
Top 7 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 Novi. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Novi.
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.