Home› Counties› NE› Thayer County
2025 County Report

Fires in Thayer County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Thayer County responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $13K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

3,690 residents FIPS 31169 11 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
27
139 across 5 years
Building fires
2
10 wildland
Property loss
$23K
$23K structure · $200 contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.

27
Total Incidents
Passenger vehicle fire 4 14.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 4 14.8%
Building fires 2 7.4%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 2 7.4%
Grass fire 2 7.4%
All other categories 13 48.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Thayer County?

Mar peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 3
Feb 3
Mar 10
Apr 1
May 3
Jun 1
Jul 0
Aug 2
Sep 0
Oct 2
Nov 2
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Thayer County

139 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 26
2022 24
2023 36
2024 26
2025 27
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
44%
8
Cause undetermined
6%
1
Intentional / arson
17%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
22%
4
Under investigation
6%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
1
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $23K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Thayer County during 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $12,500 Hebron Passenger vehicle fire Significant
2 $5,000 Deshler Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $2,000 Deshler Power line down Significant
4 $2,000 Deshler Unauthorized burning Significant
5 $1,500 Hebron Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Thayer County compares

Thayer County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.32
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Thayer County
7.32
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.54
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Thayer County
0.54
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Thayer County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Thayer County

11 cities mapped to FIPS 31169.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Thayer County

11 departments report from this county.

HEBRON FIRE RESCUE
Hebron
FDID 32012 16 incidents 1 paid 37 vol
Deshler Vol Fire Dept
Deshler
FDID 32010 6 incidents 35 vol
Chester Vol Fire Dept
CHESTER
FDID 32008 5 incidents 23 vol
Alexandria Vol Fire Dept
ALEXANDRIA
FDID 32002 0 incidents 21 vol
Belvidere Rural Fire Dept
BELVIDERE
FDID 32003 0 incidents 13 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.