In 2025, fire departments serving Springfield responded to 98 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
303 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 32 | — | |
| 2022 | 50 | — | |
| 2023 | 55 | +10.0% | |
| 2024 | 68 | +23.6% | |
| 2025 | 98 | +44.1% |
* Well below Springfield'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 16 building fires Springfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 116 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 | 42 | 36.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 7 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - 5+ persons; including barrack/dormitory | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 17 | 14.7% |
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 Springfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 87 | 75.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 3.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Springfield departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 81% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Springfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,325 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 238 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 215 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 215 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 201 | 41.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 155 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 144 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 142 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 132 | 33.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 125 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 120 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 117 | 38.1 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 | 40069 | 303 |
Six Kentucky cities with population within ±25% of Springfield. 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.