In 2025, fire departments serving Murray responded to 310 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 66% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,263 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $62K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 220 | — | |
| 2022 | 300 | +36.4% | |
| 2023 | 236 | -21.3% | |
| 2024 | 197 | -16.5% | |
| 2025 | 310 | +57.4% |
For the 18 building fires Murray departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 269 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 | 177 | 65.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 4.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 9 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 1.9% | |
| 7 | Equipment or service area, other | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Other | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 33 | 12.3% |
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 Murray mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 211 | 78.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 4.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 1.9% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 1.9% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 1.9% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 0.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 3.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Murray sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,199 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 | 15.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 1,024 | 17.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 500 | 30.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 331 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Smoking | 311 | 9.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 271 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 234 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 227 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 221 | 26.7 mi |
Top 4 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 Murray. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Murray.
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.