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2025 County Report

Fires in Gratiot County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Gratiot County responded to 368 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $350K property loss.

22,037 residents FIPS 26057 27 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
368
1,413 across 5 years
Building fires
99
58 wildland
Property loss
$2.9M
$1.8M structure · $1.1M contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

368
Total Incidents
Building fires 99 26.9%
Power line down 40 10.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 27 7.3%
Grass fire 21 5.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 20 5.4%
All other categories 161 43.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Gratiot County?

Mar peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 26
Feb 13
Mar 58
Apr 55
May 38
Jun 24
Jul 36
Aug 32
Sep 19
Oct 33
Nov 18
Dec 16
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Gratiot County

1,413 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 270
2022 249
2023 211
2024 315
2025 368
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 99 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
43%
54
Cause undetermined
37%
46
Intentional / arson
4%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
6
Under investigation
10%
13
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Gratiot County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 77% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $350,000 Ithaca Building fires Major
2 $300,000 Alma Building fires Major
3 $100,000 Village of Ashley Garbage dump or sanitary landfill fire Significant
4 $100,000 Village of Ashley Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 ITHACA Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $100,000 BANNISTER Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 ASHLEY Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
8 $100,000 Perrinton Building fires Significant
9 $76,200 Riverdale Building fires Significant
10 $72,000 ALMA Building fires Significant
06 How Gratiot County compares

Gratiot County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.7
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Gratiot County
16.7
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
4.49
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Gratiot County
4.49
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Gratiot County
0
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Gratiot County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26057.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Gratiot County

6 departments report from this county.

Alma District Fire Department
Alma
FDID 02901 119 incidents
Ashley VFD
Ashley
FDID 02902 48 incidents
St Louis Area FD
St Louis
FDID 02906 45 incidents
MERRITT AREA FIRE DEPT
MERRITT
FDID 05701 25 incidents
Breckenridge Wheeler Fire Dep
Breckenridge
FDID 02903 22 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.