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2025 County Report

Fires in Lake County, FL

In 2025, fire departments serving Lake County responded to 2,062 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

221,551 residents FIPS 12069 80 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
2,062
12,021 across 5 years
Building fires
245
310 wildland
Property loss
$9.3M
$6.3M structure · $3.0M contents
Casualties
1 / 11
1 civ deaths · 10 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 51% of all calls.

2,062
Total Incidents
Building fires 245 11.9%
Unauthorized burning 213 10.3%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 212 10.3%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 200 9.7%
Outside rubbish fire, other 186 9.0%
All other categories 1,006 48.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lake County?

Apr peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 199
Feb 163
Mar 246
Apr 341
May 243
Jun 153
Jul 149
Aug 138
Sep 132
Oct 112
Nov 122
Dec 64
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Lake County

12,021 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,349
2022 2,505
2023 2,489
2024 2,616
2025 2,062
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 245 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
40%
261
Cause undetermined
17%
108
Intentional / arson
15%
94
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
65
Under investigation
8%
54
Act of nature (lightning)
10%
51
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.8M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Lake County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 45% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 UMATILLA Building fires Major
2 $350,000 Clermont Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $346,441 SORRENTO Building fires Major
4 $300,000 MTP NAME Building fires Major
5 $250,000 Sorrento Building fires Major
6 $250,000 Clermont Building fires Major
7 $235,000 Lady Lake Building fires Significant
8 $225,000 ALTOONA Building fires Significant
9 $200,000 Eustis Building fires Significant
10 $150,000 SORRENTO Building fires Significant
06 How Lake County compares

Lake County vs FL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.31
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lake County
9.31
FL avg
5.32
US avg
7.15
1.11
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lake County
1.11
FL avg
0.42
US avg
0.82
4.5
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lake County
4.5
FL avg
4.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lake County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 12069.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lake County

10 departments report from this county.

LAKE COUNTY FIRE RESCUE
Tavares
FDID 12251 1,356 incidents 230 paid
CITY OF MOUNT DORA FIRE DEPT
Mount Dora
FDID 12081 171 incidents 11 paid
CITY OF TAVARES FIRE DEPT
TAVARES
FDID 12042 147 incidents 18 paid
CITY OF MINNEOLA FIRE RESCUE
Minneola
FDID 12082 114 incidents 9 paid
GROVELAND FIRE DEPARTMENT
Groveland
FDID 12041 99 incidents 33 paid
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in FL

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 DOF Prarie Fire 2011 NPS 68,028
2 CP3 RX 2021 NPS 66,918
3 Buzzard 2018 NPS 62,454
4 Tarpon (BIL) 2023 NPS 52,542
5 CP-2 Exotics (BIL) 2023 NPS 49,703
6 EVER CP3 Exotics Rx 2024 NPS 47,986
7 ROG-South (BIL) 2023 NPS 47,619
8 ROG-South/Southern Glades 2020 NPS 43,751
9 BICY Kirby Rx FY24 2024 NPS 39,765
10 Mustang Corner 2008 NPS 39,423

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.