Home› Counties› NE› Jefferson County
2025 County Report

Fires in Jefferson County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Jefferson County responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

5,227 residents FIPS 31095 15 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
17
218 across 5 years
Building fires
5
8 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 88% of all calls.

17
Total Incidents
Building fires 5 29.4%
Grass fire 4 23.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 3 17.6%
Outside rubbish fire, other 2 11.8%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 1 5.9%
All other categories 2 11.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Jefferson County?

Jan peaks. Jul dips.

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

Year over year in Jefferson County

218 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 43
2022 64
2023 37
2024 57
2025 17
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
60%
3
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
40%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
06 How Jefferson County compares

Jefferson County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.25
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Jefferson County
3.25
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.96
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Jefferson County
0.96
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Jefferson County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Jefferson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 31095.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Jefferson County

7 departments report from this county.

Fairbury Rural Fire Dept
Fairbury
FDID 33004 10 incidents 30 vol
Jansen Rural Fire Dist
Jansen
FDID 33005 7 incidents 33 vol
Daykin Vol Fire Dept
Daykin
FDID 33001 0 incidents 26 vol
Diller Rural Fire Dept
Diller
FDID 33002 0 incidents 30 vol
Fairbury Fire Dept
Fairbury
FDID 33003 0 incidents 4 paid
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.