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2025 County Report

Fires in Johnson County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Johnson County responded to 2 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

3,164 residents FIPS 31097 7 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
2
30 across 5 years
Building fires
0
1 wildland
Property loss
$2K
$0 structure · $2K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.

2
Total Incidents
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 1 50.0%
Cultivated vegetation, crop fire, other 1 50.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Johnson County?

Feb peaks. Jan dips.

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

Year over year in Johnson County

30 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 4
2022 9
2023 10
2024 5
2025 2
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 0 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
100%
2
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
06 How Johnson County compares

Johnson County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

0.63
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Johnson County
0.63
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Johnson County
0
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Johnson County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Johnson County

7 cities mapped to FIPS 31097.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Johnson County

4 departments report from this county.

Cook Rural Fire Dist
Cook
FDID 57001 2 incidents 20 vol
Elk Creek Vol Fire Dept
ELK CREEK
FDID 57003 0 incidents 25 vol
Sterling Vol Fire Dept
STERLING
FDID 57004 0 incidents 22 vol
Tecumseh Vol Fire Dept
TECUMSEH
FDID 57005 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.