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2025 County Report

Fires in Polk County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Polk County responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $20K property loss.

2,784 residents FIPS 31143 6 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
10
33 across 5 years
Building fires
1
5 wildland
Property loss
$36K
$35K structure · $800 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.

10
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 20.0%
Grass fire 2 20.0%
Building fires 1 10.0%
Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other 1 10.0%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 1 10.0%
All other categories 3 30.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Polk County?

Mar peaks. Apr dips.

Jan 1
Feb 1
Mar 3
Apr 0
May 3
Jun 0
Jul 0
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 1
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Polk County

33 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 11
2022 7
2023 3
2024 2
2025 10
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 1 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
0%
0
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
100%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $35K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Polk County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $20,000 Osceola Building fires Significant
2 $15,000 Shelby Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Polk County compares

Polk County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.59
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Polk County
3.59
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.36
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Polk County
0.36
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Polk County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Polk County

6 cities mapped to FIPS 31143.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Polk County

4 departments report from this county.

Shelby Vol Fire Dept
Shelby
FDID 41003 8 incidents 31 vol
Osceola Vol Fire Dept
Osceola
FDID 41001 0 incidents 30 vol
Polk Fire Rescue
Polk
FDID 41002 0 incidents 24 vol
Stromsburg Vol Fire Dept
Stromsburg
FDID 41004 0 incidents 22 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.