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2025 County Report

Fires in Charlevoix County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Charlevoix County responded to 270 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss.

10,657 residents FIPS 26029 17 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
270
1,293 across 5 years
Building fires
16
13 wildland
Property loss
$2.7M
$2.2M structure · $423K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.

270
Total Incidents
Power line down 122 45.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 35 13.0%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 21 7.8%
Building fires 16 5.9%
Fire, other 10 3.7%
All other categories 66 24.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Charlevoix County?

Mar peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 13
Feb 30
Mar 61
Apr 34
May 23
Jun 27
Jul 18
Aug 8
Sep 18
Oct 17
Nov 13
Dec 8
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Charlevoix County

1,293 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 216
2022 321
2023 226
2024 260
2025 270
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 16 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
41%
14
Cause undetermined
21%
7
Intentional / arson
12%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
3
Under investigation
3%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
14%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Charlevoix County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 Boyne City Building fires Major
2 $966,200 EAST JORDAN Building fires Major
3 $126,400 East Jordan Building fires Significant
4 $126,400 EAST JORDAN Building fires Significant
5 $10,000 EAST JORDAN Fire, other Significant
6 $5,000 EAST JORDAN Building fires Significant
7 $5,000 Boyne City Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
8 $3,000 Boyne City Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $2,500 Boyne City Fire, other Significant
10 $1,500 Boyne City Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Charlevoix County compares

Charlevoix County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

25.34
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Charlevoix County
25.34
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
1.5
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Charlevoix County
1.5
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Charlevoix County
0
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Charlevoix County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26029.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Charlevoix County

7 departments report from this county.

East Jordan FD
EAST JORDAN
FDID 01504 89 incidents 17 paid
Boyne City VFD
Boyne City
FDID 01501 78 incidents
Charlevoix Twp FD
Charlevoix
FDID 01506 75 incidents
OAKFIELD FIRE DEPARTMENT
ROCKFORD
FDID 04129 69 incidents 1 paid
Melrose Twp FD
Walloon Lake
FDID 01505 32 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in MI

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Brittle 2021 USFS 5,666
2 21-SLBE Lasso Loop burn 2021 NPS 577
3 21-SLBE Peterson 2021 NPS 512
4 21-SLBE Otter Creek burn 2021 NPS 506
5 Horn 2021 NPS 485
6 Unhappy Camper 2015 USFS 471
7 21-SLBE Bass Lake burn 2021 NPS 405
8 Good Harbor Trail RX 2023 NPS 342
9 Summit Lake 2024 USFS 327
10 MISNR-FY19-RX-Red Pine Natural Area 2019 FWS 172

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.