In 2025, fire departments serving Loup City responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
52 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $669K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022 | 29 | — | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 10 | +25.0% |
* Well below Loup City'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 Loup City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | Other | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Loup City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Loup City departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $45,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Loup City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 25,915 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 | 11.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 5,000 | 0.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 1,520 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 2.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 800 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 27.3 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 68853 | 52 |
Six Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of Loup City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Loup City.
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.