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2025 County Report

Fires in Wayne County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Wayne County responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

7,191 residents FIPS 31179 6 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
34
213 across 5 years
Building fires
2
12 wildland
Property loss
$705K
$504K structure · $201K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.

34
Total Incidents
Grass fire 6 17.6%
Cooking fire, confined to container 4 11.8%
Natural vegetation fire, other 3 8.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 3 8.8%
Building fires 2 5.9%
All other categories 16 47.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Wayne County?

Sep peaks. Jun dips.

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

Year over year in Wayne County

213 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 36
2022 54
2023 34
2024 55
2025 34
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
67%
6
Cause undetermined
11%
1
Intentional / arson
11%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
11%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $504K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Wayne County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Hoskins Building fires Significant
2 $180,000 Wayne Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
3 $85,000 Wayne Fire, other Significant
4 $18,500 Wayne Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $6,500 Wayne Vehicle accident, general cleanup Significant
6 $5,000 Winside Building fires Significant
7 $4,500 Wayne Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $3,500 Wayne Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $350 Wayne Cultivated vegetation, crop fire, other Significant
10 $165 Wayne Cultivated vegetation, crop fire, other Significant
06 How Wayne County compares

Wayne County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.73
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Wayne County
4.73
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
0.28
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Wayne County
0.28
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Wayne County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Wayne County

6 cities mapped to FIPS 31179.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Wayne County

4 departments report from this county.

Wayne Vol Fire Dept
Wayne
FDID 27003 22 incidents 36 vol
Carroll Vol Fire Dept
Carroll
FDID 27001 13 incidents 20 vol
Hoskins Rural Fire Dist
Hoskins
FDID 27002 0 incidents 35 vol
Winside Fire Dept
Winside
FDID 27004 0 incidents 35 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.