In 2025, fire departments serving Barlow responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 93% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
69 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $747K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | -16.0% | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 14 | — |
* Well below Barlow'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 6 building fires Barlow departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13 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 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Multiple areas | 1 | 7.7% |
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 Barlow mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 53.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Barlow departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Barlow sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,223 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 26.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 500 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 409 | 44.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 245 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 227 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 221 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 129 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 106 | 20.2 mi |
Top 2 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 Barlow. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.