In 2025, fire departments serving Kearney responded to 148 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 67% of all calls.
May peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
425 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023 | 73 | — | |
| 2024 | 202 | +176.7% | |
| 2025 | 148 | -26.7% |
* Well below Kearney'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 10 building fires Kearney departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 114 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 | Undetermined | 29 | 25.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 19 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 9 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 27 | 23.7% |
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 Kearney mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 64 | 56.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 5.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 6 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Fireworks | 6 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 9.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kearney departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $22,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kearney sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,774 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 | 5,000 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 1,520 | 5.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 5.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 15.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 480 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 440 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 30.2 mi |
Top 5 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 Kearney. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kearney.
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.