In 2025, fire departments serving Lincoln responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Lincoln's departments reported 16 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 34 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 87% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
172 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 33 | — | |
| 2022 | 58 | +75.8% | |
| 2023 | 35 | -39.7% | |
| 2024 | 30 | -14.3% | |
| 2025* | 16 | — |
* 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 0 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 17 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 41.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.9% |
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 | 10 | 58.8% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Candle | 1 | 5.9% |
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. 4,715 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 888 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 755 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 480 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Smoking | 394 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 345 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 297 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 295 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 173 | 18.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 105 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 90 | 1.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 76 | 34.1 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 Pennsylvania cities with population within ±25% of Lincoln. 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.