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2025 County Report

Fires in Lancaster County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Lancaster County responded to 1,660 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $403K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

302,004 residents FIPS 31109 35 cities · 12 fire depts
Total incidents
1,660
8,164 across 5 years
Building fires
171
106 wildland
Property loss
$9.2M
$6.0M structure · $3.2M contents
Casualties
2 / 8
2 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 7 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.

1,660
Total Incidents
Carbon monoxide incident 348 21.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 289 17.4%
Building fires 171 10.3%
Unauthorized burning 116 7.0%
Power line down 79 4.8%
All other categories 657 39.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lancaster County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 134
Feb 136
Mar 190
Apr 127
May 125
Jun 145
Jul 213
Aug 181
Sep 93
Oct 95
Nov 131
Dec 90
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Lancaster County

8,164 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,122
2022 1,376
2023 1,951
2024 2,055
2025 1,660
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 171 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
57%
202
Cause undetermined
16%
56
Intentional / arson
10%
36
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
21
Under investigation
10%
37
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
5
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Lancaster County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 46% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $402,900 Lincoln Building fires Major
2 $400,000 Lincoln Building fires Major
3 $400,000 Lincoln Building fires Major
4 $400,000 Pleasant Dale Building fires Major
5 $310,000 Lincoln Building fires Major
6 $200,000 Lincoln Building fires Significant
7 $200,000 Lincoln Building fires Significant
8 $160,000 Lincoln Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
9 $150,000 Lincoln Building fires Significant
10 $125,000 Lincoln Building fires Significant
06 How Lancaster County compares

Lancaster County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.5
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lancaster County
5.5
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.57
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lancaster County
0.57
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
6.6
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lancaster County
6.6
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lancaster County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 31109.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lancaster County

12 departments report from this county.

Lincoln Fire Rescue
Lincoln
FDID 02006 1,594 incidents 287 paid
Raymond Vol Fire Rescue
Raymond
FDID 02009 29 incidents 35 vol
Malcolm Vol Fire Dept
MALCOLM
FDID 02007 22 incidents 40 vol
Southeast Rural Fire Dist
LINCOLN
FDID 02010 11 incidents 32 vol
Hallam Fire Rescue
Hallam
FDID 02004 7 incidents 26 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.