In 2025, fire departments serving Bowling Green responded to 33 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $108K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
59 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $356K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023 | 19 | — | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 33 | — |
* Well below Bowling Green'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 3 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 5 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 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 1 | 20.0% |
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 | Heat source: other | 1 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 20.0% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 1 | 20.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bowling Green departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $108,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $49,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bowling Green sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,817 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,505 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 907 | 31.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 478 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 414 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 310 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 302 | 12.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 273 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 255 | 37.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 37.0 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22427 | 59 |
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Bowling Green. 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.