In 2025, fire departments serving Onsted responded to 37 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
270 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $180K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 64 | — | |
| 2022 | 78 | +21.9% | |
| 2023 | 71 | -9.0% | |
| 2024* | 20 | — | |
| 2025 | 37 | — |
* Well below Onsted'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 2 building fires Onsted departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 131 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 47 | 35.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 14 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 12 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Other | 8 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 21 | 16.0% |
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 Onsted mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Match | 49 | 37.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 44 | 33.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 9 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Radiated heat from another fire | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Conducted heat from another fire | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 6.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Onsted departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,500 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Onsted sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,634 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 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 47.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 42.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 13.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 51 | 47.4 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 Onsted. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Onsted.
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.