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2025 County Report

Fires in Box Butte County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Box Butte County responded to 54 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

8,768 residents FIPS 31013 5 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
54
283 across 5 years
Building fires
4
12 wildland
Property loss
$846K
$668K structure · $178K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.

54
Total Incidents
Grass fire 11 20.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 11 20.4%
Building fires 4 7.4%
Cultivated grain or crop fire 4 7.4%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 4 7.4%
All other categories 20 37.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Box Butte County?

Jul peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 4
Feb 2
Mar 3
Apr 4
May 4
Jun 5
Jul 11
Aug 8
Sep 3
Oct 4
Nov 3
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Box Butte County

283 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 54
2022 56
2023 54
2024 65
2025 54
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 4 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
34%
10
Cause undetermined
24%
7
Intentional / arson
3%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
28%
8
Under investigation
3%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
2
05 The biggest fires

9 fires · $668K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Box Butte County during 2025. These 9 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Alliance Rail vehicle fire Major
2 $100,000 Alliance Building fires Significant
3 $50,000 Alliance Building fires Significant
4 $10,000 Alliance Cultivated grain or crop fire Significant
5 $4,000 Alliance Outside equipment fire Significant
6 $1,300 Alliance Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
7 $1,200 Alliance Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) Significant
8 $1,000 Alliance Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $250 Alliance Outside equipment fire Significant
06 How Box Butte County compares

Box Butte County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.16
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Box Butte County
6.16
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.46
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Box Butte County
0.46
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Box Butte County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Box Butte County

5 cities mapped to FIPS 31013.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Box Butte County

2 departments report from this county.

Alliance Fire Department
ALLIANCE
FDID 65001 56 incidents 4 paid 42 vol
Hemingford Vol Fire Dept
Hemingford
FDID 65002 0 incidents 1 paid 30 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.