In 2025, fire departments serving Saugatuck responded to 54 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
247 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $822K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 59 | — | |
| 2022 | 46 | -22.0% | |
| 2023 | 38 | -17.4% | |
| 2024 | 50 | +31.6% | |
| 2025 | 54 | +8.0% |
For the 13 building fires Saugatuck departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 24 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 | 5 | 20.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Sales area, showroom (exclude display window) | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 12.5% |
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 Saugatuck mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 20.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 4.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Saugatuck sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,467 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 175 | 41.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Smoking | 90 | 16.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 71 | 10.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 66 | 16.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 59 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 7.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 43 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 43 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 11.8 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 Saugatuck. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Saugatuck.
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.