In 2025, fire departments serving Danville responded to 299 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $8.7M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,671 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $13.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 327 | — | |
| 2022 | 309 | -5.5% | |
| 2023 | 358 | +15.9% | |
| 2024 | 378 | +5.6% | |
| 2025 | 299 | -20.9% |
For the 5 building fires Danville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 477 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 188 | 39.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 71 | 14.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 47 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 21 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Other | 14 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 7 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 69 | 14.5% |
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 Danville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 245 | 51.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 86 | 18.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 43 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 27 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 19 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 7 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Danville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8,700,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Catastrophic | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $58,487 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $37,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $27,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $26,600 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $24,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Danville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,295 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,537 | 39.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,100 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 896 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 855 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 715 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 622 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 551 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 549 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 516 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 484 | 44.0 mi |
Top 4 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 Danville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Danville.
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.