In 2025, fire departments serving Pontiac responded to 588 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $125K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,489 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.3M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 681 | — | |
| 2022 | 728 | +6.9% | |
| 2023 | 835 | +14.7% | |
| 2024 | 657 | -21.3% | |
| 2025 | 588 | -10.5% |
For the 32 building fires Pontiac departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 838 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 142 | 16.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 91 | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 85 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 72 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Other | 58 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 45 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 42 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 29 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 28 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 28 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 218 | 26.0% |
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 Pontiac mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 307 | 36.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 147 | 17.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 70 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 50 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 44 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 30 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 27 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 25 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 17 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 108 | 12.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pontiac departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 82% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pontiac sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,493 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 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 64 | 32.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 51 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 10.8 mi |
Top 7 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 Pontiac. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pontiac.
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.