In 2025, fire departments serving Lyons responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
66 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $417K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | +127.3% | |
| 2023 | 11 | -56.0% | |
| 2024* | 7 | — | |
| 2025 | 12 | — |
* Well below Lyons'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 Lyons 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 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 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 Lyons mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat, spark from friction | 6 | 31.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 26.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lyons departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lyons sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,728 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,100 | 14.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 800 | 13.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 715 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Fireworks | 680 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 650 | 12.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 582 | 13.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 560 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 13.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 480 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 480 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 470 | 18.9 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 | 68038 | 66 |
Six Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of Lyons. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lyons.
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.