In 2025, fire departments serving Somerset responded to 417 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $325K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,017 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $8.5M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 340 | — | |
| 2022 | 388 | +14.1% | |
| 2023 | 368 | -5.2% | |
| 2024 | 504 | +37.0% | |
| 2025 | 417 | -17.3% |
For the 70 building fires Somerset departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 627 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 | 189 | 30.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 84 | 13.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 49 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 40 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 27 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 25 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Other | 20 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 19 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 18 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 12 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 144 | 23.0% |
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 Somerset mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 435 | 69.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 30 | 4.8% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 24 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 22 | 3.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 20 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 10 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 9 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 35 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Somerset departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $325,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Somerset sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 52,810 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,586 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,700 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,675 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,398 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,537 | 4.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,500 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,146 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,079 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,952 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,728 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,696 | 43.5 mi |
Top 10 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 Somerset. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Somerset.
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.