In 2025, fire departments serving Beattyville responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Beattyville's departments reported 19 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 124 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
621 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.8M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 155 | — | |
| 2022 | 177 | +14.2% | |
| 2023 | 132 | -25.4% | |
| 2024 | 138 | +4.5% | |
| 2025* | 19 | — |
* Well below Beattyville'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 2 building fires Beattyville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 91 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 | 69 | 75.8% | |
| 2 | Other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 3 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 4 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 5 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 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 Beattyville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 87 | 95.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 1.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Beattyville departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Beattyville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 77,776 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 10,000 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,500 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,070 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,500 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 3,500 | 8.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,406 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,040 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,000 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,000 | 12.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2,850 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,500 | 25.9 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 Beattyville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Beattyville.
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.