In 2025, fire departments serving Grand Island responded to 89 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Grand Island's departments reported 89 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 247 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,233 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 230 | — | |
| 2022 | 289 | +25.7% | |
| 2023 | 293 | +1.4% | |
| 2024 | 332 | +13.3% | |
| 2025* | 89 | — |
* Well below Grand Island'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 9 building fires Grand Island departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 482 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 54 | 11.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 52 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 51 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 46 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 38 | 7.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 37 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 19 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 17 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 13 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 12 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 143 | 29.7% |
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 Grand Island mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 84 | 17.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 62 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Fireworks | 60 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 45 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 41 | 8.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 37 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 29 | 6.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 19 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 17 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 74 | 15.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Grand Island departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Grand Island sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 22,867 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 5,500 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 5,000 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 3,500 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 1,520 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 408 | 36.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 350 | 43.2 mi |
Top 3 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 Grand Island. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Grand Island.
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.