In 2025, fire departments serving Utica responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
172 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $134K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 37 | — | |
| 2022* | 15 | — | |
| 2023 | 54 | — | |
| 2024 | 39 | -27.8% | |
| 2025 | 27 | -30.8% |
* Well below Utica'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 0 building fires Utica departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 59 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 | 14 | 23.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 7 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Other | 5 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 5 | 8.5% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 6.8% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 11.9% |
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 Utica mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 22 | 37.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 16.9% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 5 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 3 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 11.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Utica sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,156 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 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 64 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 2.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 41.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 38 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 37 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 33 | 30.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 30 | 29.1 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 Utica. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Utica.
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.