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2025 County Report

Fires in Webster County, NE

In 2025, fire departments serving Webster County responded to 32 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $135K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

2,344 residents FIPS 31181 9 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
32
134 across 5 years
Building fires
7
14 wildland
Property loss
$541K
$366K structure · $175K 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 59% of all calls.

32
Total Incidents
Building fires 7 21.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 4 12.5%
Grass fire 4 12.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 2 6.2%
Natural vegetation fire, other 2 6.2%
All other categories 13 40.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Webster County?

Feb peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 2
Feb 6
Mar 3
Apr 5
May 4
Jun 2
Jul 4
Aug 1
Sep 0
Oct 3
Nov 0
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Webster County

134 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 31
2022 28
2023 24
2024 19
2025 32
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 7 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
22%
2
Cause undetermined
22%
2
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
56%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $366K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Webster County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $135,000 Inavale Building fires Significant
2 $120,000 RED CLOUD Building fires Significant
3 $95,000 Blue Hill Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $15,000 Guide Rock Building fires Significant
5 $500 Red Cloud Arcing, shorted electrical equipment Significant
6 $500 Red Cloud Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Webster County compares

Webster County vs NE vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.65
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Webster County
13.65
NE avg
5.67
US avg
7.15
2.99
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Webster County
2.99
NE avg
0.57
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Webster County
0
NE avg
7
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Webster County

9 cities mapped to FIPS 31181.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Webster County

4 departments report from this county.

Red Cloud Vol Fire Dept
Red Cloud
FDID 45004 18 incidents 1 paid 24 vol
Blue Hill Vol Fire Dept
BLUE HILL
FDID 45002 17 incidents 21 vol
Bladen Vol Fire Dept
Bladen
FDID 45001 1 incidents 20 vol
Guide Rock Vol Fire Dept
Guide Rock
FDID 45003 0 incidents 24 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.