In 2025, fire departments serving Grayson responded to 75 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $700K 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 56% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
535 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.6M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 105 | — | |
| 2022 | 104 | -1.0% | |
| 2023 | 118 | +13.5% | |
| 2024 | 133 | +12.7% | |
| 2025 | 75 | -43.6% |
For the 13 building fires Grayson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 133 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 | 60 | 45.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 13 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 9.0% |
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 Grayson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 91 | 68.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 24 | 18.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 10 | Candle | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Grayson departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $700,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $125,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $80,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Grayson sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 41,735 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,500 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,865 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,200 | 38.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,090 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,934 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,880 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,739 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,700 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,678 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,640 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,600 | 43.7 mi |
Top 5 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 Grayson. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Grayson.
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.