In 2025, fire departments serving Ponca responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $14K building blaze. 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 92% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
44 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $152K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 13 | +18.2% | |
| 2025 | 13 | +0.0% |
* Well below Ponca'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 Ponca departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13 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 storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Wall assembly | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 7.7% |
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 Ponca mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 38.5% | |
| 2 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 1 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ponca departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $14,000 | Cultivated grain or crop fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ponca sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,978 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,200 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,100 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 800 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 800 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Fireworks | 680 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 650 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 600 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 582 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 560 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 550 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 47.3 mi |
Top 2 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 Ponca. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ponca.
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.