In 2025, fire departments serving Plymouth responded to 121 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 68% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
763 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 138 | — | |
| 2022 | 103 | -25.4% | |
| 2023 | 256 | +148.5% | |
| 2024 | 145 | -43.4% | |
| 2025 | 121 | -16.6% |
For the 19 building fires Plymouth departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 112 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 28 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 12 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 11 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Other | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Equipment or service area, other | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 27 | 24.1% |
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 Plymouth mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 27.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 17.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 14 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 9.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 8.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Plymouth departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $45,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Plymouth sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,776 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 38.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 28.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 33.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 43.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 51 | 38.7 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 Plymouth. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Plymouth.
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.