In 2025, fire departments serving Schuyler responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $175K 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 60% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
65 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $491K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024 | 43 | — | |
| 2025 | 20 | -53.5% |
* Well below Schuyler'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 Schuyler departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 37 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 | 12 | 32.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 21.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 8.1% |
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 Schuyler mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 21.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 18.9% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 5 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 5 | 13.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 5.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Schuyler departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Schuyler sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,480 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Smoking | 700 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Smoking | 320 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 280 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 24.0 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 Schuyler. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Schuyler.
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.