In 2025, fire departments serving Tekamah responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
55 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $568K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023 | 17 | — | |
| 2024 | 13 | -23.5% | |
| 2025 | 20 | +53.8% |
* Well below Tekamah'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 0 building fires Tekamah departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 31 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 | 11 | 35.5% | |
| 2 | Other | 6 | 19.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 19.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 5 | Vacant structural area | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 3.2% |
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 Tekamah mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 54.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 3.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tekamah departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Outside equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tekamah sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,764 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,100 | 18.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 800 | 24.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 715 | 8.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Fireworks | 680 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 650 | 25.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 582 | 24.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 560 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 480 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 480 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 470 | 33.9 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 | 68061 | 55 |
Six Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of Tekamah. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tekamah.
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.