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2025 County Report

Fires in Cedar County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Cedar County responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $2K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

5,016 residents FIPS 31027 18 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
11
97 across 5 years
Building fires
1
0 wildland
Property loss
$9K
$2K structure · $7K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Cultivated grain or crop fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.

11
Total Incidents
Cultivated grain or crop fire 5 45.5%
Building fires 1 9.1%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 1 9.1%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 1 9.1%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 1 9.1%
All other categories 2 18.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Cedar County?

Oct peaks. Feb dips.

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

Year over year in Cedar County

97 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 14
2022 19
2023 35
2024 18
2025 11
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 1 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
0%
0
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
50%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
50%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

1 fires · $2K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $2,000 Randolph Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
06 How Cedar County compares

Cedar County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

2.19
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Cedar County
2.19
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.2
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Cedar County
0.2
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Cedar County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Cedar County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 31027.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Cedar County

8 departments report from this county.

Randolph Vol Fire Dept
Randolph
FDID 13007 9 incidents 25 vol
Belden Rural Fire Dept
BELDEN
FDID 13001 0 incidents 18 vol
Coleridge Vol Fire Dept
Coleridge
FDID 13002 0 incidents 25 vol
Fordyce Fire Dept
FORDYCE
FDID 13003 0 incidents 1 paid 21 vol
Hartington City Rural VFD
Hartington
FDID 13004 0 incidents 1 paid 33 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.