In 2025, fire departments serving Flatwoods responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
58 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023 | 8 | — | |
| 2024 | 13 | +62.5% | |
| 2025 | 34 | +161.5% |
* Well below Flatwoods'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 4 building fires Flatwoods departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | 5 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Flatwoods mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 61.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 5.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Flatwoods sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 31,499 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,865 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,200 | 47.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,090 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,934 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,739 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,678 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,640 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,500 | 45.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,314 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,016 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,000 | 40.4 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 Flatwoods. 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.