In 2025, fire departments serving Romulus responded to 244 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $190K 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 52% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,455 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 338 | — | |
| 2022 | 314 | -7.1% | |
| 2023 | 347 | +10.5% | |
| 2024 | 212 | -38.9% | |
| 2025 | 244 | +15.1% |
For the 21 building fires Romulus departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 466 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 | 113 | 24.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 86 | 18.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 58 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 44 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 25 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 11 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 9 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 90 | 19.3% |
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 Romulus mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 354 | 76.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 15 | 3.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 8 | 1.7% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 1.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 8 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 6 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 30 | 6.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Romulus departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $190,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $85,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Romulus sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,542 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 | 16.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 38.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 35.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 16.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 51 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 32.5 mi |
Top 6 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 Romulus. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Romulus.
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.