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2025 County Report

Fires in Marquette County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Marquette County responded to 458 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $180K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

45,522 residents FIPS 26103 62 cities · 17 fire depts
Total incidents
458
2,209 across 5 years
Building fires
27
34 wildland
Property loss
$733K
$615K structure · $119K 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 66% of all calls.

458
Total Incidents
Power line down 180 39.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 55 12.0%
Building fires 27 5.9%
Carbon monoxide incident 22 4.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 20 4.4%
All other categories 154 33.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Marquette County?

Dec peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 25
Feb 19
Mar 28
Apr 32
May 59
Jun 33
Jul 32
Aug 39
Sep 35
Oct 32
Nov 43
Dec 81
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Marquette County

2,209 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 421
2022 445
2023 464
2024 421
2025 458
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 27 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
25
Cause undetermined
20%
8
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
4
Under investigation
5%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $592K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Marquette County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 96% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $180,000 Ishpeming Building fires Significant
2 $150,000 Marquette Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $75,000 Ishpeming Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
4 $55,000 Marquette Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 Marquette Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $30,000 Negaunee Building fires Significant
7 $15,000 Ishpeming Building fires Significant
8 $14,000 Negaunee Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
9 $13,000 Ishpeming Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $10,000 Marquette Building fires Significant
06 How Marquette County compares

Marquette County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.06
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Marquette County
10.06
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
0.59
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Marquette County
0.59
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Marquette County
0
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Marquette County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26103.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Marquette County

17 departments report from this county.

Marquette FireRescue
Marquette
FDID 05205 193 incidents 3 paid
Marquette Township Station 1
Marquette
FDID 05217 40 incidents 1 paid
Forsyth
Gwinn
FDID 05202 38 incidents
Ishpeming FD
Ishpeming
FDID 05203 32 incidents
Ishpeming Township FD
Ishpeming
FDID 05215 31 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.