In 2025, fire departments serving Watterson Park responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
27 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $18K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023 | 9 | — | |
| 2024 | 7 | -22.2% | |
| 2025 | 11 | +57.1% |
* Well below Watterson Park'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 0 building fires Watterson Park 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 | Undetermined | 3 | 37.5% | |
| 2 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Technical processing areas, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 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 Watterson Park mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 62.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 12.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Watterson Park sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,879 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 354 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 215 | 46.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 201 | 42.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 157 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 144 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 117 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 97 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 94 | 41.0 mi |
Top 2 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 Watterson Park. 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.