In 2025, fire departments serving Lincoln responded to 88 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K 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 45% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
524 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 21 | — | |
| 2022 | 89 | — | |
| 2023 | 135 | +51.7% | |
| 2024 | 191 | +41.5% | |
| 2025 | 88 | -53.9% |
* Well below Lincoln'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 Lincoln departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 390 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 | 122 | 31.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 101 | 25.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 27 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 23 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 18 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Other | 13 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Equipment or service area, other | 6 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 38 | 9.7% |
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 Lincoln mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 255 | 65.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 19 | 4.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 4.4% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 12 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 31 | 7.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lincoln departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lincoln sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 33,237 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,321 | 45.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,108 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,500 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,229 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,636 | 44.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,350 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 29.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,078 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,066 | 29.2 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 Alabama cities with population within ±25% of Lincoln. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lincoln.
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.