In 2025, fire departments serving South Haven responded to 202 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $90K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
955 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 265 | — | |
| 2022 | 156 | -41.1% | |
| 2023 | 123 | -21.2% | |
| 2024 | 209 | +69.9% | |
| 2025 | 202 | -3.3% |
For the 25 building fires South Haven departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 222 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 | 42 | 18.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 39 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 25 | 11.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 13 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Other | 12 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 53 | 23.9% |
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 South Haven mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 98 | 44.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 17 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Match | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 33 | 14.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by South Haven departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 76% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $32,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. South Haven 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 | 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. 844 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Smoking | 90 | 26.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 71 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 66 | 17.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 12.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Smoking | 41 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 15.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 40 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 39 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 34 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 33 | 24.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 30 | 23.4 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 South Haven. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in South Haven.
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.