In 2025, fire departments serving Papillion responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
166 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $862K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 121 | — | |
| 2022* | 10 | — | |
| 2023* | 3 | — | |
| 2024* | 6 | — | |
| 2025 | 26 | — |
* Well below Papillion'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 4 building fires Papillion departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 25 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 16.0% |
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 Papillion mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Fireworks | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 4.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Papillion sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,129 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 715 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Smoking | 700 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 12.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 443 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 300 | 9.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 280 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 16.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Smoking | 220 | 38.5 mi |
Top 6 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of Papillion. 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.