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2025 County Report

Fires in Emmet County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Emmet County responded to 376 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500 property loss.

10,653 residents FIPS 26047 27 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
376
1,887 across 5 years
Building fires
26
17 wildland
Property loss
$2K
$2K structure · $385 contents
Casualties
1 / 1
1 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 87% of all calls.

376
Total Incidents
Power line down 242 64.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 29 7.7%
Building fires 26 6.9%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 17 4.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 14 3.7%
All other categories 48 12.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Emmet County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 18
Feb 15
Mar 180
Apr 66
May 28
Jun 18
Jul 24
Aug 4
Sep 11
Oct 5
Nov 4
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Emmet County

1,887 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 447
2022 391
2023 383
2024 290
2025 376
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
51%
21
Cause undetermined
27%
11
Intentional / arson
5%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
5
Under investigation
2%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
05 The biggest fires

9 fires · $2K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Emmet County during 2025. These 9 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500 Petoskey Building fires Significant
2 $500 Petoskey Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $150 Petoskey Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $100 Alanson Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
5 $100 Alanson Building fires Significant
6 $100 Alanson Self-propelled motor home or recreational vehicle Significant
7 $50 Alanson Building fires Significant
8 $25 Village of Alanson Building fires Significant
9 $10 Alanson Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
06 How Emmet County compares

Emmet County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

35.3
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Emmet County
35.3
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
2.44
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Emmet County
2.44
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
93.9
Civilian fire deaths per million
Emmet County
93.9
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Emmet County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26047.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Emmet County

9 departments report from this county.

HOWELL AREA FIRE DEPARTMENT
HOWELL
FDID 04706 193 incidents 6 paid
Petoskey DPSFire Division
Petoskey
FDID 02405 118 incidents 18 paid
Pellston FD
PELLSTON
FDID 02404 75 incidents
ReadmondFriendship FD
Harbor Springs
FDID 02408 38 incidents
Carp Lake Twp FD
Carp Lake
FDID 02402 0 incidents 18 vol
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.