In 2025, fire departments serving Spring Arbor responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Spring Arbor's departments reported 21 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 54 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
269 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $411K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 78 | — | |
| 2022 | 68 | -12.8% | |
| 2023 | 93 | +36.8% | |
| 2024* | 9 | — | |
| 2025* | 21 | — |
* Well below Spring Arbor's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 7 building fires Spring Arbor departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 50 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 | Outside area, other | 10 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 18.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 14.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Wall assembly | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 14.0% |
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 Spring Arbor mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Match | 14 | 28.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 9 | 18.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 7 | 14.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 2.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Spring Arbor departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Spring Arbor sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,800 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 154 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 40.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 25.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 40.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 25.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 17.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 35.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 57 | 46.8 mi |
Top 6 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 Spring Arbor. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Spring Arbor.
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.