Home› Counties› NE› Sarpy County
2025 County Report

Fires in Sarpy County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Sarpy County responded to 527 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $600K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

131,044 residents FIPS 31153 19 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
527
2,589 across 5 years
Building fires
62
48 wildland
Property loss
$3.7M
$3.2M structure · $444K contents
Casualties
0 / 5
0 civ deaths · 3 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.

527
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 77 14.6%
Building fires 62 11.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 44 8.3%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 40 7.6%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 40 7.6%
All other categories 264 50.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Sarpy County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 58
Feb 45
Mar 72
Apr 68
May 39
Jun 43
Jul 57
Aug 37
Sep 30
Oct 25
Nov 26
Dec 27
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Sarpy County

2,589 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 622
2022 475
2023 460
2024 505
2025 527
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 62 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
59%
76
Cause undetermined
12%
15
Intentional / arson
3%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
18
Under investigation
5%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Sarpy County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 73% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $600,000 Gretna Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
2 $600,000 Gretna Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
3 $300,000 BELLEVUE Building fires Major
4 $250,000 BELLEVUE Building fires Major
5 $145,000 BELLEVUE Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 SARPY Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 BELLEVUE Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 BELLEVUE Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 Gretna Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
10 $70,000 BELLEVUE Building fires Significant
06 How Sarpy County compares

Sarpy County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.02
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Sarpy County
4.02
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.47
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Sarpy County
0.47
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Sarpy County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Sarpy County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 31153.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Sarpy County

4 departments report from this county.

Bellevue Fire Department
Bellevue
FDID 59001 335 incidents 60 paid
Gretna Vol Fire Rescue
GRETNA
FDID 59002 109 incidents 59 vol
Papillion Fire Rescue Dept
LaVista
FDID 59003 50 incidents 54 paid
Springfield Vol Fire Dept
Springfield
FDID 59004 0 incidents 30 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.