In 2025, fire departments serving Hawesville responded to 46 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 74% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
287 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.8M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 76 | — | |
| 2023 | 113 | +48.7% | |
| 2024 | 39 | -65.5% | |
| 2025 | 46 | +17.9% |
* Well below Hawesville'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 9 building fires Hawesville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 79 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 | 24 | 30.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Other | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 20.3% |
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 Hawesville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 47 | 59.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 8 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hawesville departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hawesville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,344 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,400 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1,200 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,050 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 716 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 584 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 570 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 418 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 40.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 400 | 49.7 mi |
Top 3 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 Hawesville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hawesville.
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.