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2025 County Report

Fires in Kalamazoo County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Kalamazoo County responded to 2,592 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $903K property loss.

156,702 residents FIPS 26077 32 cities · 14 fire depts
Total incidents
2,592
13,398 across 5 years
Building fires
346
116 wildland
Property loss
$8.1M
$5.8M structure · $2.3M contents
Casualties
1 / 13
1 civ deaths · 6 civ inj · 7 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.

2,592
Total Incidents
Power line down 600 23.1%
Building fires 346 13.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 266 10.3%
Unauthorized burning 210 8.1%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 121 4.7%
All other categories 1,049 40.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Kalamazoo County?

May peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 123
Feb 136
Mar 360
Apr 178
May 479
Jun 230
Jul 226
Aug 225
Sep 154
Oct 172
Nov 171
Dec 138
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Kalamazoo County

13,398 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,524
2022 2,523
2023 3,103
2024 2,656
2025 2,592
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 346 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
38%
150
Cause undetermined
14%
54
Intentional / arson
11%
44
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
54
Under investigation
19%
74
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
10
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Kalamazoo County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 51% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $902,817 KALAMAZOO Building fires Major
2 $400,000 AUGUSTA Passenger vehicle fire Major
3 $315,200 Kalamazoo Building fires Major
4 $294,268 GALESBURG Building fires Major
5 $200,000 GALESBURG Building fires Significant
6 $200,000 SCHOOLCRAFT Building fires Significant
7 $180,000 PORTAGE Building fires Significant
8 $160,000 Portage Building fires Significant
9 $160,000 PORTAGE Building fires Significant
10 $150,000 Kalamazoo Building fires Significant
06 How Kalamazoo County compares

Kalamazoo County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.54
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Kalamazoo County
16.54
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
2.21
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Kalamazoo County
2.21
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
6.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
Kalamazoo County
6.4
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Kalamazoo County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26077.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Kalamazoo County

14 departments report from this county.

Kalamazoo Dept Public Safety
Kalamazoo
FDID 03909 746 incidents 210 paid
Kalamazoo Twp FD
Kalamazoo
FDID 03922 443 incidents 4 paid
Portage FD
Portage
FDID 03916 406 incidents 30 paid
Comstock Twp Fire Rescue
GALESBURG
FDID 03904 207 incidents 3 paid
GalesburgCharleston FD
Galesburg
FDID 03908 84 incidents 24 vol
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.