In 2025, fire departments serving Prospect responded to 69 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 54% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
131 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $734K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 31 | — | |
| 2025 | 69 | +122.6% |
* Well below Prospect'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 Prospect 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 15.8% |
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 Prospect mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 42.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Prospect departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $600 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Prospect sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,550 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 450 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 354 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 182 | 40.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 157 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 144 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 46.5 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 Prospect. 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.