In 2025, fire departments serving Bowling Green responded to 784 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,344 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $14.6M cumulative property loss. 10 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 793 | — | |
| 2022 | 957 | +20.7% | |
| 2023 | 925 | -3.3% | |
| 2024 | 885 | -4.3% | |
| 2025 | 784 | -11.4% |
For the 94 building fires Bowling Green departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,762 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 | Outside area, other | 317 | 18.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 305 | 17.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 157 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 153 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 138 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 90 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 48 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Other | 47 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 46 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 38 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 423 | 24.0% |
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 Bowling Green mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1,100 | 62.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 82 | 4.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 78 | 4.4% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 70 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 60 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 51 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 47 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 45 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 38 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 33 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 158 | 9.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bowling Green departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 53% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $170,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $138,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $110,400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $96,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $96,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bowling Green sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
27 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 6 | |
| 80+ | 6 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,672 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 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1,200 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,050 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 584 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 570 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 457 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 35.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 400 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 49.5 mi |
Top 8 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 Bowling Green. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bowling Green.
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.