In 2025, fire departments serving White Pigeon responded to 42 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K 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 81% of all calls.
May peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
146 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $160K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 35 | — | |
| 2022 | 34 | -2.9% | |
| 2023* | 17 | — | |
| 2024 | 18 | — | |
| 2025 | 42 | +133.3% |
* Well below White Pigeon'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 5 building fires White Pigeon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 41 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 | 24.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 10 | 24.4% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 24.4% |
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 White Pigeon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 75.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Match | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 2.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by White Pigeon departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. White Pigeon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 17 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 583 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 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Fireworks | 40 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 35 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 22 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 21 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15 | 1.9 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 49099 | 146 |
Six Michigan cities with population within ±25% of White Pigeon. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in White Pigeon.
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.