In 2025, fire departments serving Rose City responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
81 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $39K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023* | 5 | — | |
| 2024 | 25 | — | |
| 2025 | 38 | +52.0% |
* Well below Rose City'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 3 building fires Rose City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Rose City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 70.0% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 5.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rose City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 38,519 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 8,586 | 16.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 5,818 | 7.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 5,200 | 9.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,250 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,900 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,557 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1,345 | 31.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,238 | 11.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 1,040 | 39.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,035 | 13.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 844 | 31.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 840 | 13.8 mi |
Top 2 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 Rose City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.