In 2025, fire departments serving Southfield responded to 525 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,254 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 766 | — | |
| 2022 | 597 | -22.1% | |
| 2023 | 747 | +25.1% | |
| 2024 | 619 | -17.1% | |
| 2025 | 525 | -15.2% |
For the 19 building fires Southfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,007 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 | 191 | 19.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 154 | 15.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 151 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 116 | 11.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 114 | 11.3% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 31 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 25 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 24 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 16 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 169 | 16.8% |
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 Southfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 379 | 37.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 251 | 24.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 120 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 48 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 36 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 26 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 21 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 18 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 76 | 7.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Southfield departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Structure fire, other (conversion only) | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $45,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $37,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Structure fire, other (conversion only) | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Southfield sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,523 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 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 35.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 64 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 51 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 14.8 mi |
Top 9 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 Southfield. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Southfield.
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.