In 2025, fire departments serving Seward responded to 43 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 63% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
55 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023* | 5 | — | |
| 2024* | 1 | — | |
| 2025 | 43 | — |
* Well below Seward'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 5 building fires Seward departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | Undetermined | 6 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Seward mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Fireworks | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Seward sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,681 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 3,500 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 7.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Smoking | 700 | 13.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 6.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 401 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 350 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Smoking | 320 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 280 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Smoking | 220 | 34.4 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 | 68434 | 55 |
Six Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of Seward. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Seward.
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.