In 2025, fire departments serving Traverse City responded to 698 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 58% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,136 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $10.3M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 675 | — | |
| 2022 | 623 | -7.7% | |
| 2023 | 562 | -9.8% | |
| 2024 | 578 | +2.8% | |
| 2025 | 698 | +20.8% |
For the 78 building fires Traverse City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 467 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 | 80 | 17.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 66 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 46 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 26 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 26 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Other | 20 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 20 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 17 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 15 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 11 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 140 | 30.0% |
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 Traverse City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 133 | 28.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 69 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 44 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 43 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 30 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 28 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 25 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 15 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 14 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 10 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 56 | 12.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Traverse City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 79% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $228,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $80,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $71,730 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Traverse City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,821 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1,345 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 1,040 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 817 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 764 | 38.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 40.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 148 | 11.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 133 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 115 | 9.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 10.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 96 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 89 | 13.8 mi |
Top 10 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 Traverse City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Traverse City.
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.