In 2025, fire departments serving Niobrara County responded to 39 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips.
154 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 | |
| 2022 | 30 | |
| 2023 | 23 | |
| 2024 | 33 | |
| 2025 | 39 |
For the 2 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Niobrara County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Redbird | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major |
| 2 | $48,000 | Town of Lusk | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant |
| 3 | $15,000 | Lance Creek | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant |
| 4 | $2,400 | Lance Creek | Cultivated grain or crop fire | Significant |
| 5 | $2,000 | Van Tassell | Cultivated grain or crop fire | Significant |
| 6 | $1,500 | Town of Lusk | Cultivated grain or crop fire | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
11 cities mapped to FIPS 56027.
1 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clover Mist | 1988 | USFS | 341,291 |
| 2 | CLOVERMIST | 1988 | NPS | 232,190 |
| 3 | Hellroaring | 1988 | USFS | 206,358 |
| 4 | Storm Creek | 1988 | USFS | 206,056 |
| 5 | East Troublesome | 2020 | USFS | 193,693 |
| 6 | Mullen | 2020 | USFS | 176,787 |
| 7 | HUCK | 1988 | NPS | 120,297 |
| 8 | Elk | 2024 | USFS | 98,351 |
| 9 | Pack Trail | 2024 | USFS | 89,929 |
| 10 | MINK | 1988 | NPS | 88,369 |
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.