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2025 County Report

Fires in Colfax County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Colfax County responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $175K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

8,451 residents FIPS 31037 8 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
20
94 across 5 years
Building fires
1
7 wildland
Property loss
$311K
$261K structure · $51K 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 60% of all calls.

20
Total Incidents
Grass fire 5 25.0%
Passenger vehicle fire 4 20.0%
Fire, other 1 5.0%
Building fires 1 5.0%
Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other 1 5.0%
All other categories 8 40.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Colfax County?

Feb peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 2
Feb 4
Mar 3
Apr 2
May 4
Jun 4
Jul 1
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Colfax County

94 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 7
2022 17
2023 0
2024 50
2025 20
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
79%
11
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
7%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
1
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $261K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Colfax County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $175,000 Schuyler Building fires Significant
2 $75,000 Schuyler Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
3 $5,000 Schuyler Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
4 $2,000 schuyler Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $2,000 Schuyler Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $1,500 Schuyler Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Colfax County compares

Colfax County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

2.37
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Colfax County
2.37
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.12
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Colfax County
0.12
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Colfax County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Colfax County

8 cities mapped to FIPS 31037.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Colfax County

4 departments report from this county.

Schuyler Fire Dept
Schuyler
FDID 43006 20 incidents 49 vol
Clarkson Vol Fire Dept
CLARKSON
FDID 43001 0 incidents 38 vol
Howells Vol Fire Dept
Howells
FDID 43002 0 incidents 23 vol
Leigh Vol Fire Dept
Leigh
FDID 43003 0 incidents 31 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.