In 2025, fire departments serving Blair responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $8K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
50 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $13K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 14 | — | |
| 2023 | 8 | -42.9% | |
| 2024 | 11 | +37.5% | |
| 2025 | 15 | +36.4% |
* Well below Blair'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 7 building fires Blair departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3 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 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 1 | 33.3% |
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 Blair mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 1 | 33.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Blair departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $7,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Blair sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 16,814 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,100 | 34.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 800 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 715 | 10.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Fireworks | 680 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 650 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 582 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 480 | 34.7 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 | 68008 | 50 |
Six Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of Blair. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Blair.
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.