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2025 County Report

Fires in Iosco County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Iosco County responded to 258 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $750K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

8,622 residents FIPS 26069 23 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
258
1,304 across 5 years
Building fires
33
44 wildland
Property loss
$3.1M
$2.3M structure · $801K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 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 69% of all calls.

258
Total Incidents
Power line down 68 26.4%
Building fires 33 12.8%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 30 11.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 27 10.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 19 7.4%
All other categories 81 31.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Iosco County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 7
Feb 19
Mar 50
Apr 45
May 22
Jun 20
Jul 43
Aug 23
Sep 18
Oct 5
Nov 5
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Iosco County

1,304 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 233
2022 290
2023 218
2024 305
2025 258
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 33 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
33%
19
Cause undetermined
14%
8
Intentional / arson
4%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
5
Under investigation
21%
12
Act of nature (lightning)
19%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Iosco County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 93% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $750,000 East Tawas Water vehicle fire Major
2 $550,000 Oscoda Building fires Major
3 $300,000 East Tawas Building fires Major
4 $110,000 East Tawas Building fires Significant
5 $95,000 Oscoda Building fires Significant
6 $90,000 Oscoda Building fires Significant
7 $70,000 East Tawas Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
8 $60,000 Oscoda Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 Oscoda Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
10 $42,000 AuSable Building fires Significant
06 How Iosco County compares

Iosco County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

29.92
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Iosco County
29.92
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
3.83
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Iosco County
3.83
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Iosco County
0
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Iosco County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26069.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Iosco County

4 departments report from this county.

Oscoda Ausable VFD
Oscoda
FDID 03504 81 incidents
Whittemore VFD
Whittemore
FDID 03502 26 incidents 18 vol
Grant Township VFD
National City
FDID 03507 21 incidents
USFSHuron Shores Station
Oscoda
FDID 03598 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.