In 2025, fire departments serving Royal Oak responded to 317 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 78% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,470 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 568 | — | |
| 2022 | 410 | -27.8% | |
| 2023 | 644 | +57.1% | |
| 2024 | 531 | -17.5% | |
| 2025 | 317 | -40.3% |
For the 14 building fires Royal Oak departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 431 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 | 74 | 17.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 67 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 50 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Other | 34 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 23 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 22 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 15 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 14 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 9 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 105 | 24.4% |
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 Royal Oak mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 152 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 70 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 47 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 26 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 20 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 17 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 9 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 48 | 11.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Royal Oak sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,443 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 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 64 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 51 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 10.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 45 | 48.0 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 Royal Oak. 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.