In 2025, fire departments serving Wilder responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 44% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
67 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $853K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | -47.6% | |
| 2024* | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 27 | — |
* Well below Wilder'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 1 building fires Wilder departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | 8 | 42.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Shipping/receiving area; loading area, dock or bay | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 1 | 5.3% |
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 Wilder mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 31.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Sunlight | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wilder departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $9,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wilder sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,069 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 57 | 11.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 10.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 45 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 45 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 45 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 30 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 24.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 29.7 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 Wilder. 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.