In 2025, fire departments serving Sanford responded to 164 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $245K 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 62% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
728 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 160 | — | |
| 2022 | 113 | -29.4% | |
| 2023 | 90 | -20.4% | |
| 2024 | 201 | +123.3% | |
| 2025 | 164 | -18.4% |
For the 16 building fires Sanford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 126 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 11.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 13 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 8 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 40 | 31.7% |
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 Sanford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 24.6% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 15 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 14 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Match | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 11.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sanford departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $245,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $129,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sanford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,072 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,557 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 335 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 331 | 45.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 289 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 257 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 253 | 43.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 202 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 191 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 186 | 10.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 178 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 155 | 4.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 153 | 43.5 mi |
Top 3 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 Sanford. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sanford.
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.