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2025 County Report

Fires in Hamilton County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Hamilton County responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $50K property loss.

6,537 residents FIPS 31081 10 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
48
218 across 5 years
Building fires
5
24 wildland
Property loss
$127K
$78K structure · $50K 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 79% of all calls.

48
Total Incidents
Grass fire 14 29.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 9 18.8%
Building fires 5 10.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 5 10.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 5 10.4%
All other categories 10 20.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Hamilton County?

Mar peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 5
Feb 2
Mar 11
Apr 4
May 7
Jun 0
Jul 1
Aug 1
Sep 2
Oct 8
Nov 4
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Hamilton County

218 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 32
2022 48
2023 44
2024 46
2025 48
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 5 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
91%
10
Cause undetermined
9%
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

8 fires · $78K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Hamilton County during 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $50,000 Aurora Building fires Significant
2 $10,000 City of Aurora Building fires Significant
3 $5,000 City of Aurora Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $5,000 City of Aurora Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $3,500 City of Aurora Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $2,500 City of Aurora Building fires Significant
7 $1,000 City of Aurora Building fires Significant
8 $500 City of Aurora Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Hamilton County compares

Hamilton County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.34
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Hamilton County
7.34
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.76
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Hamilton County
0.76
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Hamilton County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Hamilton County

10 cities mapped to FIPS 31081.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Hamilton County

6 departments report from this county.

Aurora Vol Fire Dept
AURORA
FDID 28001 48 incidents 37 vol
Giltner Rural Fire Dept
Giltner
FDID 28002 0 incidents 20 vol
Hampton Fire Rescue
Hampton
FDID 28003 0 incidents 20 vol
Hordville Vol Fire Dept
HORDVILLE
FDID 28004 0 incidents 24 vol
Marquette Vol Fire Rescue
Marquette
FDID 28005 0 incidents 19 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.