In 2025, fire departments serving La Vista responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K 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 74% of all calls.
Jan peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
101 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $219K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 80 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024* | 1 | — | |
| 2025 | 19 | — |
* Well below La Vista'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 La Vista departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | 6 | 31.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.3% |
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 La Vista mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 42.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by La Vista departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. La Vista sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,079 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 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 715 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Smoking | 700 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 443 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 300 | 8.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 280 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Smoking | 220 | 40.2 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 La Vista. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.