It is difficult to know precisely what is going on from the information provided.  There is a disease called delphinella shoot blight that has been found damaging concolor fir trees in Michigan.  Here are a few links with information on that disease.  https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/concolor_fir_turning_brown.  
https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/CAES/PDIO/Fact-Sheets/Delphinella-Shoot-Blight-of-Fir.pdf

However, the fact that you are seeing new damage to the tree this spring prior to budbreak  indicates that it is unlikely to be delphinella shoot blight.  It may be helpful to send a sample of the damaged portion of the tree into MSU plant and pest diagnostic lab (https://www.canr.msu.edu/pestid/) for further analysis.  Also consider has anything different been done or applied to the trees that had not before (fertilizer, spraying,  etc.)