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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Greenville, Kentucky

In 2025, fire departments serving Greenville responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade C Peak yr 2022 Muhlenberg County 4,463 residents 0 reporting departments 530 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. Greenville's departments reported 48 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 106 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
48
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
4
Residential 50% Other 50%
Property loss
$123K
$88K structure · $35K contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Outside rubbish fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 46% of all calls.

48
Total Incidents
Outside rubbish fire, other 6 12.5%
Natural vegetation fire, other 5 10.4%
Building fires 4 8.3%
Attempted burning, illegal action, other 4 8.3%
Fire, other 3 6.2%
All other categories 26 54.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

Jan 15
Feb 7
Mar 15
Apr 5
May 3
Jun 0
Jul 0
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 1
Nov 1
Dec 1
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Greenville

530 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.2M cumulative property loss.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021* 39 —
2022 178 —
2023 139 -21.9%
2024 126 -9.4%
2025* 48 —

* Well below Greenville'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.

03 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 4 building fires Greenville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
12%
1
Cause undetermined
50%
4
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
25%
2
Under investigation
12%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Greenville?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 127 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 originCountShare 
1 Undetermined 58 45.7%
2 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 18 14.2%
3 Vehicle storage area; garage, carport 7 5.5%
4 Cooking area, kitchen 6 4.7%
5 Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison 5 3.9%
6 Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge 4 3.1%
7 Open area - outside; included are farmland, field 4 3.1%
8 Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles 3 2.4%
9 Outside area, other 3 2.4%
10 Other 2 1.6%
11 All other areas 17 13.4%
3c What ignited it

What actually ignited the fire?

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 Greenville mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 85 66.9%
2 Hot ember or ash 7 5.5%
3 Arcing 6 4.7%
4 Heat from powered equipment, other 4 3.1%
5 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 4 3.1%
6 Heat source: other 3 2.4%
7 Hot or smoldering object, other 3 2.4%
8 Heat from direct flame, convection currents 3 2.4%
9 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 2 1.6%
10 Chemical reaction 2 1.6%
11 All other sources 8 6.3%
04 The biggest fires

5 fires · $88K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Greenville departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $50,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
2 $20,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
3 $12,000 Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant Investigated
4 $5,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
5 $500 Fire, other Significant Investigated
05 How Greenville compares

Greenville vs Kentucky vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Greenville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.

10.76
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Greenville
10.76
KY avg
10.83
US avg
7.48
0.9
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Greenville
0.9
KY avg
1.35
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Greenville
0
KY avg
13.8
US avg
5.9
5b Who gets hurt

Casualty demographics in Greenville

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.

AgeCount 
0-9 1
10-19 0
20-29 0
30-39 1
40-49 2
50-59 1
60-69 2
70-79 0
80+ 0
Civilian vs firefighter
Civilian 7 FF 0
Gender
M 5 F 2 Unk 0
Severity (1=minor → 5=fatal)
5
1
1
2
0
3
0
4
0
5
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Greenville

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,823 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
1999 Arson/incendiarism 1,400 16.1 mi
2007 Debris and open burning 1,200 13.6 mi
2004 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 1,050 15.6 mi
2000 Arson/incendiarism 584 47.6 mi
2007 Debris and open burning 570 10.8 mi
2005 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 517 14.7 mi
2004 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 500 5.9 mi
2001 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 500 5.1 mi
2007 Debris and open burning 450 13.0 mi
2003 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 400 16.5 mi
1999 Equipment and vehicle use 400 48.0 mi
2005 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 300 5.8 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Greenville do fires concentrate?

Top 6 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.

#ZIP5-yr incidents 
1 42345 522
2 42344 4
3 42301 1
4 42325 1
5 42337 1
6 42453 1
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Greenville

Six Kentucky cities with population within ±25% of Greenville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.

07 Stay prepared

Before the next Red Flag day.

A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.

About this data

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.