In 2025, fire departments serving Hopkinsville responded to 254 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,371 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $15.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 251 | — | |
| 2022 | 281 | +12.0% | |
| 2023 | 326 | +16.0% | |
| 2024 | 259 | -20.6% | |
| 2025 | 254 | -1.9% |
For the 32 building fires Hopkinsville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 755 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 | 187 | 24.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 99 | 13.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 75 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 67 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 60 | 7.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 30 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 21 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 17 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 15 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 15 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 169 | 22.4% |
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 Hopkinsville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 463 | 61.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 37 | 4.9% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 35 | 4.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 27 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 26 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 22 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 21 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 20 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 13 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 79 | 10.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hopkinsville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 68% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $90,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $80,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hopkinsville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
13 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,618 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 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1,200 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,050 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 1,024 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 570 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 517 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Smoking | 311 | 49.3 mi |
Top 8 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 Hopkinsville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hopkinsville.
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.