In 2025, fire departments serving Sand Lake responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
366 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 53 | — | |
| 2022 | 79 | +49.1% | |
| 2023 | 129 | +63.3% | |
| 2024 | 57 | -55.8% | |
| 2025 | 48 | -15.8% |
For the 12 building fires Sand Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 60 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 | 9 | 15.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 8 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 6 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Structural area, other | 4 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 16.7% |
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 Sand Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 22 | 36.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 5 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 4 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sand Lake departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sand Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 29,995 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 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 5,818 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 5,200 | 22.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,238 | 34.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,035 | 27.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 840 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 26.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 778 | 32.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 687 | 34.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 628 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 531 | 8.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 472 | 21.6 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 Sand Lake. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sand Lake.
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.