In 2025, fire departments serving Westland responded to 381 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 59% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,569 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $9.6M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 547 | — | |
| 2022 | 432 | -21.0% | |
| 2023 | 762 | +76.4% | |
| 2024 | 447 | -41.3% | |
| 2025 | 381 | -14.8% |
For the 46 building fires Westland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 345 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 | 48 | 13.9% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 33 | 9.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 32 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 29 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 21 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 20 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 17 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 4.6% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 13 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 13 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 103 | 29.9% |
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 Westland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 152 | 44.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 31 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 28 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 23 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 20 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 11 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 42 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Westland departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 75% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Westland sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,721 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 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 34.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 36.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 69 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 51 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 37.4 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 Westland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Westland.
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.