In 2025, fire departments serving Paw Paw responded to 213 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
881 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 227 | — | |
| 2022 | 135 | -40.5% | |
| 2023 | 147 | +8.9% | |
| 2024 | 159 | +8.2% | |
| 2025 | 213 | +34.0% |
For the 8 building fires Paw Paw departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 316 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 | Outside area, other | 140 | 44.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 44 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 18 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 55 | 17.4% |
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 Paw Paw mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 88 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 78 | 24.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 47 | 14.9% | |
| 4 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 17 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 30 | 9.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Paw Paw departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Cultivated vegetation, crop fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Paw Paw sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,211 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Smoking | 90 | 30.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 71 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 66 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 33.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 51 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 27.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 43 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Smoking | 41 | 27.7 mi |
Top 4 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 Paw Paw. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Paw Paw.
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.