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2025 County Report

Fires in Custer County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Custer County responded to 67 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

6,971 residents FIPS 31041 26 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
67
250 across 5 years
Building fires
4
34 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 contents
Casualties
1 / 4
1 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.

67
Total Incidents
Grass fire 24 35.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 9 13.4%
Fire, other 7 10.4%
Building fires 4 6.0%
Carbon monoxide incident 4 6.0%
All other categories 19 28.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Custer County?

Feb peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 3
Feb 30
Mar 5
Apr 9
May 2
Jun 2
Jul 2
Aug 3
Sep 4
Oct 4
Nov 1
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Custer County

250 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 34
2022 66
2023 51
2024 32
2025 67
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
77%
10
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
2
Under investigation
8%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
06 How Custer County compares

Custer County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.61
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Custer County
9.61
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.57
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Custer County
0.57
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
143.5
Civilian fire deaths per million
Custer County
143.5
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Custer County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 31041.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Custer County

10 departments report from this county.

Broken Bow Fire Rescue
Broken Bow
FDID 04005 51 incidents 34 vol
Anselmo Vol Fire Dept
ANSELMO
FDID 04001 0 incidents 41 vol
Ansley Vol Fire Dept
ANSLEY
FDID 04002 0 incidents 31 vol
Arnold Vol Fire Dept
Arnold
FDID 04003 0 incidents 1 paid 25 vol
Callaway Rural Fire Dept
Callaway
FDID 04006 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.