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2025 County Report

Fires in Ingham County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Ingham County responded to 2,490 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

248,222 residents FIPS 26065 26 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
2,490
12,849 across 5 years
Building fires
267
131 wildland
Property loss
$10.0M
$7.1M structure · $3.0M contents
Casualties
7 / 17
7 civ deaths · 9 civ inj · 8 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.

2,490
Total Incidents
Power line down 506 20.3%
Unauthorized burning 310 12.4%
Building fires 267 10.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 266 10.7%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 121 4.9%
All other categories 1,020 41.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ingham County?

May peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 158
Feb 120
Mar 312
Apr 306
May 371
Jun 255
Jul 237
Aug 195
Sep 92
Oct 220
Nov 167
Dec 57
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ingham County

12,849 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,405
2022 2,357
2023 2,914
2024 2,683
2025 2,490
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 267 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
58%
297
Cause undetermined
11%
54
Intentional / arson
8%
41
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
49
Under investigation
13%
67
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.8M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Ingham County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 40% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 DELHI TWP Fire, other Major
2 $485,662 City of East Lansing Building fires Major
3 $350,000 Okemos Building fires Major
4 $278,040 Okemos Building fires Major
5 $250,000 Mason Building fires Major
6 $200,000 LANSING Building fires Significant
7 $200,000 LANSING Building fires Significant
8 $200,000 Stockbridge Building fires Significant
9 $200,000 WEBBERVILLE Building fires Significant
10 $172,000 City of East Lansing Building fires Significant
06 How Ingham County compares

Ingham County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.03
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ingham County
10.03
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
1.08
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ingham County
1.08
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
28.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ingham County
28.2
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ingham County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26065.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Ingham County

11 departments report from this county.

Lansing FD
Lansing
FDID 03304 1,035 incidents
Meridian Township Fire Dept
Okemos
FDID 03309 253 incidents 41 paid
City of East Lansing FD
East Lansing
FDID 03301 187 incidents 55 paid
DELHI TOWNSHIP FIRE DEPT
HOLT
FDID 03302 167 incidents 1 paid
Northeast Ingham Emerg SVC Aut
Williamston
FDID 03313 166 incidents 6 paid
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.