In 2025, fire departments serving Lexington responded to 41 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
106 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $400K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | +78.6% | |
| 2023 | 23 | -8.0% | |
| 2024* | 3 | — | |
| 2025 | 41 | — |
* Well below Lexington'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 5 building fires Lexington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | 5 | 26.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.3% |
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 Lexington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 31.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lexington departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100 | Overheated motor | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lexington sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,955 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,071 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 902 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 380 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 30.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 292 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 276 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 175 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 175 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 158 | 48.9 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Lexington. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lexington.
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.