In 2025, fire departments serving Onaway responded to 56 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K 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 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
128 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $903K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | -37.9% | |
| 2023* | 14 | — | |
| 2024* | 11 | — | |
| 2025 | 56 | — |
* Well below Onaway'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 6 building fires Onaway departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 50 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 | 24 | 48.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 6.0% |
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 Onaway mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 34 | 68.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 2.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Onaway departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $4,500 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Heat from short circuit (wiring), defective/worn | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Onaway sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,218 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,250 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,900 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 844 | 46.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 484 | 36.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 209 | 13.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 117 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 115 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Recreation and ceremony | 108 | 9.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 81 | 21.8 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 49765 | 128 |
Six Michigan cities with population within ±25% of Onaway. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Onaway.
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.