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2025 County Report

Fires in Cherry County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Cherry County responded to 30 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $450K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

3,087 residents FIPS 31031 22 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
30
181 across 5 years
Building fires
6
21 wildland
Property loss
$711K
$555K structure · $156K 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 97% of all calls.

30
Total Incidents
Grass fire 10 33.3%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 9 30.0%
Building fires 6 20.0%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 2 6.7%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 2 6.7%
All other categories 1 3.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Cherry County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 1
Feb 3
Mar 5
Apr 3
May 4
Jun 3
Jul 1
Aug 3
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 3
Dec 4
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Cherry County

181 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 33
2022 32
2023 39
2024 47
2025 30
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 6 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
88%
7
Cause undetermined
12%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

4 fires · $555K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Cherry County during 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $450,000 VALENTINE Building fires Major
2 $75,000 VALENTINE Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
3 $20,000 VALENTINE Building fires Significant
4 $10,000 VALENTINE Building fires Significant
06 How Cherry County compares

Cherry County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.72
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Cherry County
9.72
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
1.94
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Cherry County
1.94
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Cherry County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Cherry County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 31031.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Cherry County

6 departments report from this county.

Valentine Vol Fire Dept
Valentine
FDID 66004 27 incidents 1 paid 49 vol
Cody Vol Fire Dept
Cody
FDID 66001 0 incidents 11 vol
Kilgore Vol Fire Dept
Kilgore
FDID 66002 0 incidents 24 vol
Merriman Vol Fire Dept
MERRIMAN
FDID 66003 0 incidents 15 vol
Wood Lake Fire Dept
Wood Lake
FDID 66005 0 incidents 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.