In 2025, fire departments serving Potterville responded to 54 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $117K 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 71% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
204 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $389K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 46 | — | |
| 2022* | 12 | — | |
| 2023 | 60 | — | |
| 2024 | 32 | -46.7% | |
| 2025 | 54 | +68.8% |
* Well below Potterville's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 9 building fires Potterville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 31 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 | 6 | 19.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 6 | 19.4% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 9 | Assembly area without fixed seats - 100+ persons | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 16.1% |
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 Potterville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 20 | 64.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 1 | 3.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Potterville departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $116,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $11,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $200 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Potterville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,024 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 191 | 34.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 33.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 24.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 40.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 46.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 33.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 61 | 37.4 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 Potterville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Potterville.
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.