In 2025, fire departments serving Ortonville responded to 135 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
609 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $570K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 130 | — | |
| 2022 | 113 | -13.1% | |
| 2023 | 99 | -12.4% | |
| 2024 | 132 | +33.3% | |
| 2025 | 135 | +2.3% |
For the 8 building fires Ortonville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 115 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 | 18 | 15.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 11 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Structural area, other | 7 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Other | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 34 | 29.6% |
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 Ortonville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 29 | 25.2% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 8 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 20.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ortonville departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ortonville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,388 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 35.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 31.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 64 | 22.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 39.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 51 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 18.8 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 Ortonville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ortonville.
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.