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2025 County Report

Fires in Missaukee County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Missaukee County responded to 141 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $351K property loss.

1,904 residents FIPS 26113 19 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
141
789 across 5 years
Building fires
36
15 wildland
Property loss
$2.2M
$1.6M structure · $648K 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 71% of all calls.

141
Total Incidents
Power line down 42 29.8%
Building fires 36 25.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 9 6.4%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 8 5.7%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 5 3.5%
All other categories 41 29.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Missaukee County?

Jul peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 14
Feb 18
Mar 10
Apr 12
May 15
Jun 19
Jul 24
Aug 3
Sep 3
Oct 6
Nov 5
Dec 12
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Missaukee County

789 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 205
2022 176
2023 132
2024 135
2025 141
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 36 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
16
Cause undetermined
21%
8
Intentional / arson
13%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
3
Under investigation
16%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.5M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Missaukee County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 93% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $350,500 Lake City Building fires Major
2 $197,000 Lake City Building fires Significant
3 $175,000 McBain Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 Lake City Building fires Significant
5 $120,500 Lake City Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Lake City Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Lake City Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 Lake City Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 McBain Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 McBain Building fires Significant
06 How Missaukee County compares

Missaukee County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

74.05
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Missaukee County
74.05
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
18.91
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Missaukee County
18.91
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Missaukee County
0
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Missaukee County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26113.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Missaukee County

4 departments report from this county.

LAKE CITY AREA FIRE DEPARTMENT
LAKE CITY
FDID 05706 36 incidents 20 vol
lake missaukee fire dept
lake city
FDID 05702 33 incidents 20 paid 20 vol
Clam Union Twp
Falmouth
FDID 05704 23 incidents
Norwich Fire Dept
Lake City
FDID 05705 10 incidents 9 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.