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2025 County Report

Fires in Cheboygan County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Cheboygan County responded to 589 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $54K property loss.

7,376 residents FIPS 26031 34 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
589
1,596 across 5 years
Building fires
26
9 wildland
Property loss
$163K
$130K structure · $34K 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 85% of all calls.

589
Total Incidents
Power line down 422 71.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 29 4.9%
Building fires 26 4.4%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 15 2.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 12 2.0%
All other categories 85 14.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Cheboygan County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 15
Feb 21
Mar 331
Apr 85
May 33
Jun 33
Jul 25
Aug 9
Sep 9
Oct 5
Nov 13
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Cheboygan County

1,596 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 290
2022 272
2023 199
2024 246
2025 589
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 26 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
20
Cause undetermined
38%
18
Intentional / arson
4%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
5
Under investigation
6%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $130K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Cheboygan County during 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $53,500 Cheboygan Building fires Significant
2 $50,000 Indian River Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $20,000 Cheboygan Building fires Significant
4 $3,000 Cheboygan Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $3,000 Cheboygan Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Cheboygan County compares

Cheboygan County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

79.85
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Cheboygan County
79.85
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
3.52
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Cheboygan County
3.52
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Cheboygan County
0
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Cheboygan County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26031.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Cheboygan County

10 departments report from this county.

TUSCARORA TWP VOL FIRE DP
INDIAN RIVER
FDID 01605 197 incidents 32 vol
COURTLAND FIRE DEPARTMENT
ROCKFORD
FDID 04131 94 incidents 1 paid
Topinabee Fire Department
Topinabee
FDID 01604 89 incidents 21 vol
Inverness FD
Cheboygan
FDID 01609 65 incidents
Alverno FD
Cheboygan
FDID 01601 45 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.