In 2025, fire departments serving Albion responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
59 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $105K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 8 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | +75.0% | |
| 2024 | 16 | +14.3% | |
| 2025 | 19 | +18.8% |
* Well below Albion's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 0 building fires Albion departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 43 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 24 | 55.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 18.6% | |
| 3 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 1 | 2.3% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Albion mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 16 | 37.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 20.9% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 4 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Albion sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,922 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 5.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Smoking | 320 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 3.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 240 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 3.3 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 68620 | 59 |
Six Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of Albion. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Albion.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.