In 2025, fire departments serving Wickliffe responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
101 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 | — | |
| 2022 | 32 | +128.6% | |
| 2023 | 37 | +15.6% | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 13 | — |
* Well below Wickliffe'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 4 building fires Wickliffe departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 35 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 | 10 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Storage area, other | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 22.9% |
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 Wickliffe mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 22 | 62.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wickliffe departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wickliffe sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,290 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 23.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 500 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 409 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 245 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 227 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 221 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 129 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 49.2 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 Wickliffe. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wickliffe.
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.