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2025 County Report

Fires in Nez Perce County, ID

In 2025, fire departments serving Nez Perce County responded to 204 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $400K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

36,309 residents FIPS 16069 29 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
204
920 across 5 years
Building fires
28
42 wildland
Property loss
$2.7M
$2.0M structure · $694K contents
Casualties
0 / 4
0 civ deaths · 4 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 45% of all calls.

204
Total Incidents
Building fires 28 13.7%
Grass fire 20 9.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 15 7.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 14 6.9%
Carbon monoxide incident 14 6.9%
All other categories 113 55.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Nez Perce County?

Jul peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 7
Feb 19
Mar 10
Apr 19
May 26
Jun 14
Jul 37
Aug 25
Sep 8
Oct 9
Nov 11
Dec 19
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Nez Perce County

920 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 196
2022 165
2023 202
2024 153
2025 204
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 28 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
66%
38
Cause undetermined
7%
4
Intentional / arson
5%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
3%
2
Under investigation
19%
11
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.9M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Nez Perce County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 91% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $400,000 Lewiston Building fires Major
2 $400,000 Lewiston Building fires Major
3 $350,000 Lewiston Building fires Major
4 $150,000 Lewiston Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 Lewiston Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 City of Lewiston Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $100,000 Lewiston Building fires Significant
8 $80,000 Lewiston Building fires Significant
9 $80,000 Lewiston Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 Lewiston Building fires Significant
06 How Nez Perce County compares

Nez Perce County vs ID vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.62
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Nez Perce County
5.62
ID avg
8.41
US avg
7.15
0.77
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Nez Perce County
0.77
ID avg
0.8
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Nez Perce County
0
ID avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Nez Perce County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 16069.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Nez Perce County

7 departments report from this county.

Lewiston Fire Department
Lewiston
FDID 69201 159 incidents 60 paid
Lapwai Fire Department
Lapwai
FDID 69306 26 incidents 10 vol
Wheatland Fire Protection Dist
Lewiston
FDID 69345 7 incidents 22 vol
Big Canyon Fire District
Peck
FDID 69333 4 incidents 20 vol
Nez Perce County Fire Departme
Lewiston
FDID 69344 4 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in ID

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Elk Mountain 2007 BLM 578,403
2 LONG BUTTE 2010 BLM 305,994
3 Mustang Complex 2012 USFS 287,852
4 SODA 2015 BLM 279,111
5 Diamond Pt Complex 2000 USFS 234,315
6 Pioneer 2016 USFS 188,404
7 PADDOCK 2024 BLM 187,184
8 Halstead 2012 USFS 179,308
9 Clear Creek 2000 USFS 164,755
10 Moose 2022 USFS 130,197

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.