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2025 County Report

Fires in Morrill County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Morrill County responded to 6 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $5K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

2,933 residents FIPS 31123 17 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
6
191 across 5 years
Building fires
0
5 wildland
Property loss
$15K
$5K structure · $10K 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 100% of all calls.

6
Total Incidents
Grass fire 3 50.0%
Cultivated vegetation, crop fire, other 2 33.3%
Flammable gas or liquid condition, other 1 16.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Morrill County?

Aug peaks. Feb dips.

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

Year over year in Morrill County

191 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 64
2022 36
2023 19
2024 66
2025 6
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
05 The biggest fires

1 fires · $5K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Morrill County during 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $5,000 Bridgeport Flammable gas or liquid condition, other Significant
06 How Morrill County compares

Morrill County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

2.05
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Morrill County
2.05
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Morrill County
0
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Morrill County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Morrill County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 31123.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Morrill County

3 departments report from this county.

Bridgeport Vol Fire Dept
Bridgeport
FDID 64002 1 incidents 2 paid 18 vol
Bayard Vol Fire Dept
Bayard
FDID 64001 0 incidents 1 paid 32 vol
Broadwater Vol Fire Dept
Broadwater
FDID 64003 0 incidents 23 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.