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2025 County Report

Fires in Montmorency County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Montmorency County responded to 211 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

2,488 residents FIPS 26119 10 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
211
764 across 5 years
Building fires
36
23 wildland
Property loss
$1.9M
$1.2M structure · $662K 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 77% of all calls.

211
Total Incidents
Power line down 77 36.5%
Building fires 36 17.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 32 15.2%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 10 4.7%
Fire, other 8 3.8%
All other categories 48 22.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Montmorency County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 12
Feb 5
Mar 57
Apr 40
May 30
Jun 19
Jul 22
Aug 4
Sep 11
Oct 9
Nov 2
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Montmorency County

764 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 127
2022 135
2023 145
2024 146
2025 211
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
40%
10
Cause undetermined
20%
5
Intentional / arson
4%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
28%
7
Under investigation
4%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Montmorency County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 83% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 atlanta Building fires Significant
2 $150,000 Atlanta Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 Atlanta Building fires Significant
4 $120,000 Atlanta Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Atlanta Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Atlanta Building fires Significant
7 $60,000 ATLANTA Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 Atlanta Fire, other Significant
9 $50,000 Lewiston Fire, other Significant
10 $50,000 Atlanta Fire, other Significant
06 How Montmorency County compares

Montmorency County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

84.81
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Montmorency County
84.81
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
14.47
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Montmorency County
14.47
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Montmorency County
0
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Montmorency County

10 cities mapped to FIPS 26119.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Montmorency County

5 departments report from this county.

TriTownship FD
Atlanta
FDID 06002 75 incidents
Hillman FD
Hillman
FDID 06003 52 incidents
Albert TwpLewiston FD
Lewiston
FDID 06001 26 incidents
Vienna Township VFD
Johannesburg
FDID 06004 13 incidents
DNRAtlanta Forest Area
Atlanta
FDID 06099 0 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.