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2025 County Report

Fires in Tuscola County, MI

In 2025, fire departments serving Tuscola County responded to 514 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $450K property loss.

15,971 residents FIPS 26157 32 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
514
2,077 across 5 years
Building fires
92
69 wildland
Property loss
$3.2M
$2.4M structure · $857K contents
Casualties
2 / 8
2 civ deaths · 8 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 63% of all calls.

514
Total Incidents
Power line down 143 27.8%
Building fires 92 17.9%
Grass fire 37 7.2%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 31 6.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 20 3.9%
All other categories 191 37.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Tuscola County?

Apr peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 34
Feb 32
Mar 83
Apr 88
May 56
Jun 36
Jul 49
Aug 37
Sep 32
Oct 28
Nov 25
Dec 14
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Tuscola County

2,077 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 419
2022 383
2023 302
2024 459
2025 514
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 92 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
51%
43
Cause undetermined
26%
22
Intentional / arson
6%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
10
Under investigation
4%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.9M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Tuscola County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 79% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $450,000 Millington Building fires Major
2 $250,000 Fairgrove Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $250,000 Mayville Building fires Major
4 $200,000 vassar Building fires Significant
5 $200,000 Millington Building fires Significant
6 $150,000 Cass City Building fires Significant
7 $125,000 Kingston Building fires Significant
8 $80,000 Millington Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
9 $80,000 Juniata Township Building fires Significant
10 $75,000 Juniata Township Building fires Significant
06 How Tuscola County compares

Tuscola County vs MI vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

32.18
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Tuscola County
32.18
MI avg
14.06
US avg
7.15
5.76
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Tuscola County
5.76
MI avg
2.09
US avg
0.82
125.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Tuscola County
125.2
MI avg
13.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Tuscola County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 26157.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Tuscola County

11 departments report from this county.

Elkland Township FD
Cass City
FDID 07903 72 incidents
Vassar Fire Department
vassar
FDID 07912 68 incidents
MAYVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT
MAYVILLE
FDID 07907 44 incidents 31 vol
Fairgrove FD
Fairgrove
FDID 07904 42 incidents 25 vol
ACW Unionville FD
Unionville
FDID 07911 39 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.