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2025 County Report

Fires in Antelope County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Antelope County responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $20K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

3,444 residents FIPS 31003 7 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
18
68 across 5 years
Building fires
2
6 wildland
Property loss
$30K
$20K structure · $10K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Fire, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.

18
Total Incidents
Fire, other 5 27.8%
Grass fire 5 27.8%
Building fires 2 11.1%
Outside rubbish fire, other 2 11.1%
Commercial Compactor fire, confined to rubbish 1 5.6%
All other categories 3 16.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Antelope County?

Mar peaks. Apr dips.

Jan 2
Feb 2
Mar 3
Apr 0
May 1
Jun 1
Jul 3
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 2
Nov 2
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Antelope County

68 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 9
2022 23
2023 11
2024 7
2025 18
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 2 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
10%
1
Cause undetermined
20%
2
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
20%
2
Under investigation
10%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
40%
4
05 The biggest fires

1 fires · $20K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Antelope County during 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $20,000 Elgin Building fires Significant
06 How Antelope County compares

Antelope County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.23
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Antelope County
5.23
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.58
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Antelope County
0.58
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Antelope County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Antelope County

7 cities mapped to FIPS 31003.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Antelope County

7 departments report from this county.

Elgin Vol Fire Dept
Elgin
FDID 26003 16 incidents 1 paid 37 vol
Neligh Vol Fire Dept
NELIGH
FDID 26004 5 incidents 45 vol
Brunswick Vol Fire Dept
Brunswick
FDID 26001 0 incidents 25 vol
Clearwater Fire Dept
Clearwater
FDID 26002 0 incidents 25 vol
Oakdale Vol Fire Dept
Oakdale
FDID 26005 0 incidents 24 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in NE

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 West Ash 2012 USFS 56,470
2 POWDERHORN 2000 USFS 45,765
3 Bovee 2022 USFS 18,875
4 Spotted Tail #3 2006 USFS 17,928
5 Plum 1965 USFS 13,235
6 Roberts Tract 2006 USFS 9,929
7 Hay Canyon 2012 USFS 9,882
8 Good Friday 1995 USFS 6,853
9 Red Kate 2019 FWS 5,035
10 Coffee 1987 USFS 4,836

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.