In 2025, fire departments serving Olive Hill responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Olive Hill's departments reported 27 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 58 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
290 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 58 | — | |
| 2022* | 34 | — | |
| 2023 | 90 | — | |
| 2024 | 81 | -10.0% | |
| 2025* | 27 | — |
* Well below Olive Hill'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 7 building fires Olive Hill departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 97 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 | 65 | 67.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Other | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 5.2% |
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 Olive Hill mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 84 | 86.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 1.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Olive Hill departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $85,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $39,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Olive Hill sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 36,426 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,500 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,865 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,200 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,934 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,700 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,640 | 43.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,600 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,500 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,102 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,016 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,000 | 38.9 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 Olive Hill. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Olive Hill.
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.