In 2025, fire departments serving Tilden responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
52 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | — | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 9 | — | |
| 2025 | 13 | +44.4% |
* Well below Tilden'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 6 building fires Tilden departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 29 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 27.6% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 20.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 13.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 3.4% |
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 Tilden mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 34.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 20.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tilden sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,881 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 | 2,464 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,100 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 7.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 700 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 700 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 14.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 350 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 240 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 217 | 42.4 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 | 68781 | 52 |
Six Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of Tilden. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tilden.
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.