BlockBefore

Firth, Nebraska

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1986. It stands in South Pass precinct. It lies in ZIP code area 68358. The Survey maps it on the Firth quadrangle. 649 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,325 feet above sea level.

Firth within Lancaster County

Population over time

2 figures

Firth grew from 590 to 649 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010590
2020649+59 (+10%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 14 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

32 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 32 fires within 5 miles of Firth between 2004 and 2020, burning about 135 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning24
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Equipment and vehicle use1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
28 September 2011Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
19 August 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
8 July 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
13 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
11 June 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
10 June 2018Debris and open burning10 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
7 April 2017Power generation/transmission/distribution5.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
7 April 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined20 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Lancaster County

Storms near this place

26 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Firth in 26 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 13 thunderstorm wind, 10 hail, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2000HailFirth$2,000,000A very destructive hailstorm was centered on Firth Nebraska. The path of destruction was 6 to 8 miles wide and 20 to 30 miles long beginning near Sprague in Lancaster county and continuing to near Sterling in extreme northwest Johnson county. In Firth, hail up to the size of baseballs was driven by 50 mph winds. 148 out of 200 houses and businesses in town were heavily damaged with almost every north facing window broken out. Siding damage was also extensive. In Lancaster county, crop losses included around 20 percent of 10 thousand acres of corn, 30 percent of 6 thousand acres of soybeans and 10 percent of 2 thousand acres of sorghum. From southern Lancaster county into extreme northern Gage and northwest Johnson counties a total of 34 thousand acres of corn, 36 thousand acres of soybeans and 14 thousand acres of sorghum were heavily damaged. The Farm Service Agency estimated that the damaged fields in Gage county amounted to 36 thousand acres with losses around 65 percent for corn and soybeans and 45 percent for sorghum.
May 2007Flash FloodFirth$10,000Heavy rainfall of an inch or two produced flash flooding which blocked some county roads near Firth.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindFirth-A 60 mph wind gust was measured by a personal weather station.
September 2024HailFirth-The office received a public report form mPING of quarter sized hail.
September 2024HailFirth-The office received a public report of quarter sized hail in Firth.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindFirth-Trained spotter reported a measured peak wind gust of 63 mph.
October 2022Thunderstorm WindFirth-Public reported a measured peak wind gust of 65 mph.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindFirth-Personal weather station measured a peak wind gust of 63 mph.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindFirth-Public reported a measured wind gust of 59 mph.
October 2020Thunderstorm WindFirth-Trained spotter estimated wind gusts at 72 mph.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindFirth-CO-OP observer measured winds at 70 mph.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindFirth-CO-OP observer measured winds at 70 mph.
May 2015Tornado (EF0)Firth-Storm chaser reports, as well as video, indicated a brief tornado occurred from the supercell in southern Lancaster County. No damage was reported from the tornado, and video indicated that the tornado was brief.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindFirth-Shingle and tree damage was reported associated with the wind gust near Firth.
June 2006HailFirth-Hail up to 1 inch in diameter punched holes in aluminim siding in town. The hail was accompanied by wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindFirth-Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated at over 60 mph by emergency management.
September 2018Thunderstorm WindFirth-no account filed
September 2018Thunderstorm WindFirth-no account filed
September 2018Thunderstorm WindFirth-no account filed
April 2017HailFirth-no account filed
April 2017HailFirth-no account filed
September 2010HailFirth-no account filed
June 2008HailFirth-no account filed
April 2006HailFirth-no account filed
May 2004HailFirth-no account filed
May 1997Tornado (F0)Firth-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Lancaster County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Holland4.5 miles14
Pella (historical)5.7 miles14
Princeton5.9 miles15
Hickman6.2 miles15
Panama6.8 miles14
Roca9.1 miles15
Hanlon9.3 miles15
Hallam9.6 miles14

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on FirthAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2534956The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 829302. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.