In 2025, fire departments serving Alliance responded to 52 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
275 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 53 | — | |
| 2022 | 56 | +5.7% | |
| 2023 | 53 | -5.4% | |
| 2024 | 61 | +15.1% | |
| 2025 | 52 | -14.8% |
For the 2 building fires Alliance departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 148 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 | 47 | 31.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 30 | 20.3% |
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 Alliance mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 39 | 26.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 17 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Fireworks | 10 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 20 | 13.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Alliance departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Rail vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Cultivated grain or crop fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $4,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,300 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,200 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Alliance sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
7 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 172,752 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Natural | 56,471 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 19,000 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 17,899 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 16,000 | 26.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,520 | 8.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 10,079 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | 5,035 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,000 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 5,000 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,850 | 43.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 3,700 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,000 | 45.1 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 | 69301 | 275 |
Six Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of Alliance. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Alliance.
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.