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2025 County Report

Fires in Lake County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Lake County responded to 120 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

1,299 residents FIPS 26085 14 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
120
648 across 5 years
Building fires
15
24 wildland
Property loss
$154K
$131K structure · $23K 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 64% of all calls.

120
Total Incidents
Power line down 32 26.7%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 16 13.3%
Building fires 15 12.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 7 5.8%
Outside rubbish fire, other 7 5.8%
All other categories 43 35.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lake County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 7
Feb 7
Mar 22
Apr 13
May 21
Jun 18
Jul 14
Aug 3
Sep 6
Oct 5
Nov 3
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Lake County

648 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 154
2022 116
2023 114
2024 144
2025 120
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 15 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
60%
12
Cause undetermined
15%
3
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
2
Under investigation
15%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $131K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Lake County during 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Chase Building fires Significant
2 $17,800 Irons Building fires Significant
3 $10,000 Chase Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
4 $2,500 Chase Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
5 $500 Chase Outside storage fire Significant
06 How Lake County compares

Lake County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

92.38
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lake County
92.38
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
11.55
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lake County
11.55
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lake County
0
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lake County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26085.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lake County

7 departments report from this county.

Yates Township FD
Idlewild
FDID 04303 64 incidents
SaubleElkEden Twps FD
Irons
FDID 04304 22 incidents 16 vol
Baldwin Fire Department
Baldwin
FDID 04301 0 incidents
Luther FD District1
Luther
FDID 04302 0 incidents 1 paid
Lake Township FD
Baldwin
FDID 04306 0 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.