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2025 County Report

Fires in Sherman County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Sherman County responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $224K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

1,780 residents FIPS 31163 5 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
13
72 across 5 years
Building fires
2
8 wildland
Property loss
$596K
$419K structure · $177K contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 92% of all calls.

13
Total Incidents
Grass fire 5 38.5%
Building fires 2 15.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 15.4%
Outside rubbish fire, other 2 15.4%
Natural vegetation fire, other 1 7.7%
All other categories 1 7.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Sherman County?

Mar peaks. Apr dips.

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

Year over year in Sherman County

72 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 3
2022 30
2023 11
2024 15
2025 13
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 2 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
33%
1
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
33%
1
Under investigation
33%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

4 fires · $419K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Sherman County during 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $224,000 Litchfield Building fires Significant
2 $150,000 Loup City Building fires Significant
3 $45,000 Loup City Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
4 $100 Ashton Outside rubbish fire, other Significant
06 How Sherman County compares

Sherman County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.3
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Sherman County
7.3
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
1.12
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Sherman County
1.12
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Sherman County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Sherman County

5 cities mapped to FIPS 31163.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Sherman County

5 departments report from this county.

Litchfield Vol Fire Dept
Litchfield
FDID 56003 6 incidents 20 vol
Loup City Vol Fire Dept
Loup City
FDID 56004 6 incidents 35 vol
Ashton Fire Rescue
ASHTON
FDID 56001 0 incidents 16 vol
Hazard Vol Fire Dept
Hazard
FDID 56002 0 incidents 8 vol
Rockville Vol Fire Dept
Rockville
FDID 56005 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.