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2025 County Report

Fires in Gogebic County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Gogebic County responded to 42 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $35K property loss.

9,114 residents FIPS 26053 30 cities · 12 fire depts
Total incidents
42
248 across 5 years
Building fires
5
10 wildland
Property loss
$89K
$48K structure · $41K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.

42
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 6 14.3%
Power line down 6 14.3%
Building fires 5 11.9%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 4 9.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 4 9.5%
All other categories 17 40.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Gogebic County?

May peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 2
Feb 3
Mar 2
Apr 2
May 11
Jun 4
Jul 2
Aug 5
Sep 4
Oct 3
Nov 3
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Gogebic County

248 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 50
2022 56
2023 55
2024 45
2025 42
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 5 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
58%
11
Cause undetermined
26%
5
Intentional / arson
5%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
1
Under investigation
5%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $48K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Gogebic County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $35,000 Ironwood Building fires Significant
2 $8,000 Ironwood Building fires Significant
3 $5,000 Ironwood Building fires Significant
06 How Gogebic County compares

Gogebic County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.61
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Gogebic County
4.61
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
0.55
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Gogebic County
0.55
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Gogebic County
0
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Gogebic County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26053.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Gogebic County

12 departments report from this county.

BRANCH TOWNSHIP FIRE DEPT
BRANCHTOWNSHIP OF
FDID 05306 17 incidents
Ironwood DPS
Ironwood
FDID 02703 14 incidents 11 paid
FREE SOILMEADE TWP FD
FREESOIL MI
FDID 05302 13 incidents 19 vol
Carr Community FD
Branch
FDID 05308 13 incidents 22 vol
Wakefield FD
Wakefield
FDID 02705 10 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.