In 2025, fire departments serving Auburn responded to 45 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
97 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $102K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 17 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | -17.6% | |
| 2024 | 19 | +35.7% | |
| 2025 | 45 | +136.8% |
* Well below Auburn's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 8 building fires Auburn departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 50 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 16 | 32.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 8 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 16.0% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 10.0% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Auburn mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 30 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Auburn departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Auburn sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,808 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,400 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1,200 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,050 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 584 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 570 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 517 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 33.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 400 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 40.9 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Kentucky cities with population within ±25% of Auburn. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Auburn.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.