In 2025, fire departments serving Lexington responded to 98 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $7K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
190 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $449K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024 | 91 | — | |
| 2025 | 98 | +7.7% |
* 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 2 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 56 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 | 50 | 89.3% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 3 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 4 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 6 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 1.8% |
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 | 55 | 98.2% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lexington departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $6,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | 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. 14,635 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,208 | 16.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 700 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 626 | 45.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 600 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 510 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 475 | 38.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 473 | 8.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 472 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 416 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 387 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 374 | 46.7 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 | 39095 | 190 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Lexington. 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.