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2025 County Report

Fires in Washington County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Washington County responded to 40 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $8K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

11,539 residents FIPS 31177 11 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
40
207 across 5 years
Building fires
8
13 wildland
Property loss
$13K
$13K structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.

40
Total Incidents
Building fires 8 20.0%
Grass fire 5 12.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 4 10.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 4 10.0%
Power line down 4 10.0%
All other categories 15 37.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Washington County?

Aug peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 2
Feb 5
Mar 7
Apr 3
May 3
Jun 2
Jul 2
Aug 9
Sep 2
Oct 0
Nov 4
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Washington County

207 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 20
2022 61
2023 38
2024 48
2025 40
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 8 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
60%
3
Cause undetermined
20%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
20%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $13K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $7,500 City of Blair Passenger vehicle fire Significant
2 $5,000 Fort Calhoun Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Washington County compares

Washington County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.47
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Washington County
3.47
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.69
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Washington County
0.69
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Washington County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Washington County

11 cities mapped to FIPS 31177.

CityPopulation 
Blair 7,813 View ›
Arlington 1,519 View ›
Fort Calhoun 1,154 View ›
Kennard 429 View ›
Herman 360 View ›
Washington 206 View ›
Fontanelle 58 View ›
De Soto 0 View ›
Telbasta 0 View ›
Orum 0 View ›
Nashville 0 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Washington County

6 departments report from this county.

Fort Calhoun Fire Rescue
Fort Calhoun
FDID 29003 46 incidents 30 vol
Arlington Fire Rescue
Arlington
FDID 29001 0 incidents 35 vol
Blair Fire Dept
Blair
FDID 29002 0 incidents 45 vol
Herman Rural Fire Dept
Herman
FDID 29004 0 incidents 23 vol
Kennard Vol Fire Dept
Kennard
FDID 29005 0 incidents 1 paid 32 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.