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2025 County Report

Fires in Richardson County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Richardson County responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $80K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

6,063 residents FIPS 31147 12 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
24
100 across 5 years
Building fires
3
7 wildland
Property loss
$138K
$112K structure · $26K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Arcing, shorted electrical equipment lead by count. Top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.

24
Total Incidents
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 5 20.8%
Special outside fire, other 4 16.7%
Building fires 3 12.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 3 12.5%
Unauthorized burning 2 8.3%
All other categories 7 29.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Richardson County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

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

Year over year in Richardson County

100 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 17
2022 30
2023 14
2024 15
2025 24
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 3 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
57%
4
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
1
Under investigation
29%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

7 fires · $112K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Richardson County during 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $80,000 Falls City Building fires Significant
2 $25,000 Humboldt Building fires Significant
3 $5,000 Falls City Arcing, shorted electrical equipment Significant
4 $1,000 Falls City Arcing, shorted electrical equipment Significant
5 $500 Falls City Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $100 Falls City Fire, other Significant
7 $100 Falls City Arcing, shorted electrical equipment Significant
06 How Richardson County compares

Richardson County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.96
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Richardson County
3.96
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.49
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Richardson County
0.49
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Richardson County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Richardson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 31147.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Richardson County

9 departments report from this county.

Falls City Vol Fire Dept
Falls City
FDID 19002 23 incidents 1 paid 29 vol
Humboldt Vol Fire Dept
Humboldt
FDID 19004 1 incidents 20 vol
Dawson Rural Fire Dept
DAWSON
FDID 19001 0 incidents 12 vol
Falls City Rural Fire Dept
FALLS CITY
FDID 19003 0 incidents 1 paid 35 vol
Rulo Vol Fire Dept
Rulo
FDID 19005 0 incidents 11 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.