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2025 County Report

Fires in Grand Traverse County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Grand Traverse County responded to 1,032 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $550K property loss.

19,822 residents FIPS 26055 20 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
1,032
4,844 across 5 years
Building fires
148
80 wildland
Property loss
$5.7M
$4.4M structure · $1.4M contents
Casualties
0 / 7
0 civ deaths · 5 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

1,032
Total Incidents
Power line down 170 16.5%
Building fires 148 14.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 100 9.7%
Unauthorized burning 87 8.4%
Aircraft standby 72 7.0%
All other categories 455 44.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Grand Traverse County?

Apr peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 45
Feb 79
Mar 109
Apr 114
May 87
Jun 103
Jul 108
Aug 96
Sep 75
Oct 71
Nov 71
Dec 74
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Grand Traverse County

4,844 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,061
2022 998
2023 878
2024 875
2025 1,032
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 148 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
106
Cause undetermined
4%
6
Intentional / arson
2%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
24
Under investigation
13%
22
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Grand Traverse County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 72% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $550,000 WILLIAMSBURG Building fires Major
2 $493,700 Williamsburg Building fires Major
3 $400,000 Traverse City Building fires Major
4 $330,000 Kingsley Building fires Major
5 $260,000 INTERLOCHEN Building fires Major
6 $250,000 Traverse City Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
7 $250,000 WILLIAMSBURG Passenger vehicle fire Major
8 $228,000 Traverse City Building fires Significant
9 $200,000 Interlochen Building fires Significant
10 $200,000 Traverse City Building fires Significant
06 How Grand Traverse County compares

Grand Traverse County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

52.06
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Grand Traverse County
52.06
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
7.47
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Grand Traverse County
7.47
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Grand Traverse County
0
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Grand Traverse County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26055.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Grand Traverse County

4 departments report from this county.

Grand Traverse Metro Fire Dept
TRAVERSE CITY
FDID 02801 306 incidents 54 paid
Traverse City FD
Traverse City
FDID 02804 187 incidents 25 paid
Peninsula Twp Fire Dept
Traverse City
FDID 02803 54 incidents 2 paid
DNR Traverse City Forest Area
Traverse City
FDID 02899 0 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.