In 2025, fire departments serving Mackinaw City responded to 23 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 87% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
99 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | +0.0% | |
| 2023* | 10 | — | |
| 2024 | 20 | — | |
| 2025 | 23 | +15.0% |
* Well below Mackinaw City'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 1 building fires Mackinaw City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | 8 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Mackinaw City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 35.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Incendiary device | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mackinaw City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,535 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 1,832 | 32.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 900 | 38.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 775 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 214 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 209 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 172 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 158 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 154 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 112 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Recreation and ceremony | 108 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 83 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 82 | 40.5 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 | 49701 | 99 |
Six Michigan cities with population within ±25% of Mackinaw City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Mackinaw 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.