In 2025, fire departments serving Wilmore responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 64% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
192 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $335K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 31 | — | |
| 2022 | 33 | +6.5% | |
| 2023 | 58 | +75.8% | |
| 2024 | 45 | -22.4% | |
| 2025 | 25 | -44.4% |
For the 4 building fires Wilmore departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 24 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 | Outside area, other | 6 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 20.8% |
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 Wilmore mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 41.7% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 4.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wilmore departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wilmore sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,496 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,100 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,000 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 896 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 855 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 715 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 622 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 551 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 549 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 516 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 506 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 404 | 38.4 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 | 40390 | 192 |
Six Kentucky cities with population within ±25% of Wilmore. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wilmore.
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.