In 2025, fire departments serving Junction City responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
54 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $178K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 26 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | -65.4% | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024* | 1 | — | |
| 2025 | 14 | — |
* Well below Junction City'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 2 building fires Junction City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 14 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Wall assembly | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 10 | Construction/renovation area | 1 | 7.1% |
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 Junction City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Candle | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Junction City departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Junction City sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,663 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,537 | 35.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,100 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 896 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 855 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 715 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 643 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 622 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 551 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 549 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 516 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 45.1 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40440 | 54 |
Six Kentucky cities with population within ±25% of Junction City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Junction City.
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.