In 2025, fire departments serving Owosso responded to 166 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $390K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
May peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
960 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $9.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 213 | — | |
| 2022 | 180 | -15.5% | |
| 2023 | 222 | +23.3% | |
| 2024 | 179 | -19.4% | |
| 2025 | 166 | -7.3% |
For the 30 building fires Owosso departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 238 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 | 71 | 29.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 30 | 12.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 21 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 54 | 22.7% |
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 Owosso mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 137 | 57.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 39 | 16.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Owosso departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $390,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $275,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $16,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $14,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Owosso sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,059 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 335 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 191 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 21.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 30.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 13.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 63 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 61 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 61 | 47.7 mi |
Top 5 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 Owosso. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Owosso.
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.