In 2025, fire departments serving Fort Calhoun responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
92 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $408K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | — | |
| 2023 | 17 | -5.6% | |
| 2024 | 29 | +70.6% | |
| 2025 | 22 | -24.1% |
* Well below Fort Calhoun'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 1 building fires Fort Calhoun departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Structural area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Fort Calhoun mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fort Calhoun departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fort Calhoun sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 16,110 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 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,100 | 41.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 800 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 715 | 16.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 650 | 49.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 582 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 480 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 375 | 47.2 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of Fort Calhoun. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fort Calhoun.
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.