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2025 County Report

Fires in Leelanau County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Leelanau County responded to 339 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $4.0M property loss.

4,171 residents FIPS 26089 30 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
339
1,740 across 5 years
Building fires
59
6 wildland
Property loss
$6.0M
$4.8M structure · $1.2M 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 81% of all calls.

339
Total Incidents
Power line down 94 27.7%
Hazardous condition, other 84 24.8%
Building fires 59 17.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 23 6.8%
Carbon monoxide incident 15 4.4%
All other categories 64 18.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Leelanau County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 17
Feb 22
Mar 57
Apr 27
May 30
Jun 42
Jul 16
Aug 22
Sep 19
Oct 10
Nov 24
Dec 53
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Leelanau County

1,740 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 409
2022 406
2023 284
2024 302
2025 339
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 59 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
39%
9
Cause undetermined
4%
1
Intentional / arson
9%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
22%
5
Under investigation
22%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

9 fires · $4.8M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Leelanau County during 2025. These 9 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $4,000,000 Glen Arbor Building fires Major
2 $300,000 Suttons Bay Building fires Major
3 $200,000 Lake Leelanau Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Northport Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $75,000 Lake Leelanau Building fires Significant
6 $30,000 Lake Leelanau Building fires Significant
7 $30,000 Empire Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
8 $20,000 Suttons Bay Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $1 Cedar Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Leelanau County compares

Leelanau County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

81.28
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Leelanau County
81.28
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
14.15
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Leelanau County
14.15
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Leelanau County
0
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Leelanau County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26089.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Leelanau County

4 departments report from this county.

CEDAR AREA FIRE RESCUE
CEDAR
FDID 04508 140 incidents 2 paid
Glen Lake FD
Glen Arbor
FDID 04503 71 incidents 15 paid 1 vol
Leland Township Fire Rescue
Leland
FDID 04505 40 incidents
Grand Traverse Band Fire and R
Peshawbestown
FDID 04510 10 incidents 1 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.