In 2025, fire departments serving Ryland Heights responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 90% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
68 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $215K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 19 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | -5.3% | |
| 2023 | 14 | -22.2% | |
| 2024* | 7 | — | |
| 2025 | 10 | — |
* Well below Ryland Heights'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 3 building fires Ryland Heights departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Function area, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Structural area, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 7 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 12.5% |
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 Ryland Heights mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Match | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 12.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ryland Heights sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 863 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 57 | 7.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 5.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 45 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 45 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 35 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 30 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 20.4 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 | 41015 | 68 |
Six Kentucky cities with population within ±25% of Ryland Heights. 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.