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2025 County Report

Fires in Platte County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Platte County responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $90K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

26,797 residents FIPS 31141 16 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
16
101 across 5 years
Building fires
4
3 wildland
Property loss
$152K
$142K structure · $11K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 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 69% of all calls.

16
Total Incidents
Building fires 4 25.0%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 3 18.8%
Grass fire 2 12.5%
Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence 1 6.2%
Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other 1 6.2%
All other categories 5 31.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Platte County?

Nov peaks. Mar dips.

Jan 2
Feb 1
Mar 0
Apr 2
May 1
Jun 2
Jul 0
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 2
Nov 4
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Platte County

101 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 11
2022 21
2023 21
2024 32
2025 16
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 4 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
2
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
50%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $142K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Platte County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $90,000 Duncan Outside equipment fire Significant
2 $50,000 Humphrey Building fires Significant
3 $1,500 Humphrey Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Platte County compares

Platte County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

0.6
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Platte County
0.6
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.15
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Platte County
0.15
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Platte County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Platte County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 31141.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Platte County

7 departments report from this county.

Duncan Fire Dept
DUNCAN
FDID 10003 16 incidents 1 paid 26 vol
Humphrey Fire Rescue
HUMPHREY
FDID 10004 3 incidents 28 vol
Columbus Fire Rescue
Columbus
FDID 10001 0 incidents 16 paid 80 vol
Creston Vol Fire Dept
CRESTON
FDID 10002 0 incidents 20 vol
Lindsay Vol Fire Dept
Lindsay
FDID 10005 0 incidents 25 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.