In 2025, fire departments serving Paducah responded to 370 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. 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 56% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,116 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5.6M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 408 | — | |
| 2022 | 432 | +5.9% | |
| 2023 | 484 | +12.0% | |
| 2024 | 422 | -12.8% | |
| 2025 | 370 | -12.3% |
For the 36 building fires Paducah departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 643 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 | 219 | 34.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 72 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 59 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 57 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 39 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 21 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 19 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 17 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 13 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 116 | 18.0% |
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 Paducah mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 405 | 63.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 44 | 6.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 30 | 4.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 27 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 22 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 21 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 13 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 45 | 7.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Paducah departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 72% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $85,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Paducah sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,227 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 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 1,024 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 48.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 500 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Smoking | 311 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 271 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 29.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 245 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 234 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 227 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 221 | 24.6 mi |
Top 5 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 Paducah. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Paducah.
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.