In 2025, fire departments serving Georgetown responded to 386 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.5M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 44% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,001 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $11.3M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 298 | — | |
| 2022 | 435 | +46.0% | |
| 2023 | 482 | +10.8% | |
| 2024 | 400 | -17.0% | |
| 2025 | 386 | -3.5% |
For the 36 building fires Georgetown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 486 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 | 167 | 34.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 62 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 60 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 34 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 19 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 15 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 8 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 7 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 88 | 18.1% |
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 Georgetown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 305 | 62.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 30 | 6.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 26 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 26 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 13 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 6 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 48 | 9.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Georgetown departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 70% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $195,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Georgetown 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,870 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,100 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 516 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 354 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 170 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 149 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 137 | 48.5 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 Georgetown. 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.