In 2025, fire departments serving Florence responded to 380 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $527K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 41% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,058 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.8M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 336 | — | |
| 2022 | 448 | +33.3% | |
| 2023 | 402 | -10.3% | |
| 2024 | 492 | +22.4% | |
| 2025 | 380 | -22.8% |
For the 39 building fires Florence departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 730 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 | 186 | 25.5% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 89 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 87 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 82 | 11.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 65 | 8.9% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 47 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 14 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Other | 13 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 13 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 118 | 16.2% |
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 Florence mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 447 | 61.2% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 102 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 45 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 26 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 13 | 1.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 12 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 10 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 8 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 46 | 6.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Florence departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $527,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $129,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $55,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $40,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Florence sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
32 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 5 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,726 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 450 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 354 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 182 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 74 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 65 | 41.7 mi |
Top 6 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 Florence. 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.