In 2025, fire departments serving Whitehall responded to 135 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 73% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
540 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $724K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 54 | — | |
| 2022* | 37 | — | |
| 2023 | 84 | — | |
| 2024 | 230 | +173.8% | |
| 2025 | 135 | -41.3% |
* Well below Whitehall'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 Whitehall departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 52 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 13.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 5 | 9.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 21.2% |
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 Whitehall mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 26.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 7 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 6 | 11.5% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 9.6% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 13.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Whitehall departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $8,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $300 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Whitehall sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,221 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 910 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 11.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 175 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 162 | 33.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 151 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 118 | 45.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 107 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 106 | 13.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 32.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 96 | 40.9 mi |
Top 4 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 Whitehall. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Whitehall.
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.