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2025 County Report

Fires in Red Willow County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Red Willow County responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $5K property loss.

8,481 residents FIPS 31145 9 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
38
221 across 5 years
Building fires
1
2 wildland
Property loss
$18K
$8K structure · $10K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

38
Total Incidents
Power line down 8 21.1%
Fire, other 5 13.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 4 10.5%
Carbon monoxide incident 3 7.9%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 2 5.3%
All other categories 16 42.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Red Willow County?

Nov peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 0
Feb 2
Mar 6
Apr 2
May 2
Jun 6
Jul 2
Aug 4
Sep 2
Oct 4
Nov 7
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Red Willow County

221 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 37
2022 58
2023 47
2024 41
2025 38
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
45%
5
Cause undetermined
18%
2
Intentional / arson
27%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $8K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $5,000 City of McCook Passenger vehicle fire Significant
2 $2,500 City of McCook Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other Significant
06 How Red Willow County compares

Red Willow County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.48
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Red Willow County
4.48
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.12
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Red Willow County
0.12
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Red Willow County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Red Willow County

9 cities mapped to FIPS 31145.

CityPopulation 
McCook 7,412 View ›
Indianola 517 View ›
Bartley 405 View ›
Lebanon 78 View ›
Danbury 69 View ›
Shippee 0 View ›
Perry 0 View ›
Red Willow 0 View ›
Marion 0 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Red Willow County

6 departments report from this county.

McCook Fire Dept
McCook
FDID 48005 39 incidents 9 paid 24 vol
Bartley Fire Dept
BARTLEY
FDID 48001 0 incidents 18 vol
Beaver Valley RFDDanbury
Danbury
FDID 48002 0 incidents 15 vol
Indianola Vol Fire Dept
Indianola
FDID 48003 0 incidents 30 vol
Beaver Valley RFDLebanon
DANBURY
FDID 48004 0 incidents 15 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.