In 2025, fire departments serving McCook responded to 37 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
215 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $922K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 37 | — | |
| 2022 | 56 | +51.4% | |
| 2023 | 44 | -21.4% | |
| 2024 | 41 | -6.8% | |
| 2025 | 37 | -9.8% |
For the 0 building fires McCook departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 84 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 | 9 | 10.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 8 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Egress/exit, other | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 33 | 39.3% |
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 McCook mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 17.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 10 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 16 | 19.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by McCook departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,500 | Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. McCook sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
7 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 21,604 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,400 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,100 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,000 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,250 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,050 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 900 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 900 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 450 | 40.7 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 | 69001 | 215 |
Six Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of McCook. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in McCook.
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.