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2025 County Report

Fires in Gladwin County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Gladwin County responded to 336 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $175K property loss.

4,260 residents FIPS 26051 21 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
336
1,303 across 5 years
Building fires
47
42 wildland
Property loss
$1.6M
$1.2M structure · $486K contents
Casualties
2 / 0
2 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 63% of all calls.

336
Total Incidents
Power line down 106 31.5%
Building fires 47 14.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 23 6.8%
Carbon monoxide incident 19 5.7%
Fire, other 17 5.1%
All other categories 124 36.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Gladwin County?

Mar peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 21
Feb 25
Mar 42
Apr 42
May 23
Jun 37
Jul 33
Aug 16
Sep 19
Oct 19
Nov 19
Dec 40
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Gladwin County

1,303 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 135
2022 241
2023 233
2024 358
2025 336
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 47 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
76%
59
Cause undetermined
4%
3
Intentional / arson
9%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
3%
2
Under investigation
8%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Gladwin County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 88% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $175,000 GLADWIN Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
2 $150,000 GLADWIN Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
3 $150,000 GLADWIN Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 GLADWIN Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 GLADWIN Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 GLADWIN Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 GLADWIN Building fires Significant
8 $80,000 GLADWIN Building fires Significant
9 $40,000 Beaverton Building fires Significant
10 $25,000 GLADWIN Building fires Significant
06 How Gladwin County compares

Gladwin County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

78.87
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Gladwin County
78.87
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
11.03
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Gladwin County
11.03
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
469.5
Civilian fire deaths per million
Gladwin County
469.5
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Gladwin County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26051.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Gladwin County

7 departments report from this county.

GLADWIN RURAL URBAN FD
GLADWIN MI
FDID 02602 159 incidents 1 paid
Billings Twp Fire Department
Beaverton
FDID 02604 72 incidents
Coleman Community Fire Dept
Coleman
FDID 05601 34 incidents 25 vol
Onekama Twp Fire Department
Onekama
FDID 05107 31 incidents
Wildwood Fire Department
Alger
FDID 02605 14 incidents 7 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.