In 2025, fire departments serving Kuttawa responded to 40 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
170 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 18 | — | |
| 2022 | 56 | — | |
| 2023 | 38 | -32.1% | |
| 2024* | 18 | — | |
| 2025 | 40 | — |
* Well below Kuttawa'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 1 building fires Kuttawa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 80 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 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 20 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 13.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 6.2% |
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 Kuttawa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 42 | 52.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 1.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kuttawa sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,670 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 1,024 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 517 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Smoking | 311 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 271 | 18.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 6.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 234 | 8.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 227 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 225 | 43.9 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 | 42055 | 170 |
Six Kentucky cities with population within ±25% of Kuttawa. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.