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2025 County Report

Fires in Adair County, KY

In 2025, fire departments serving Adair County responded to 98 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

4,811 residents FIPS 21001 42 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
98
227 across 5 years
Building fires
24
35 wildland
Property loss
$726K
$530K structure · $196K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.

98
Total Incidents
Building fires 24 24.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 14 14.3%
Grass fire 9 9.2%
Natural vegetation fire, other 7 7.1%
Fire, other 6 6.1%
All other categories 38 38.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Adair County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 8
Feb 7
Mar 18
Apr 11
May 7
Jun 4
Jul 6
Aug 10
Sep 8
Oct 7
Nov 3
Dec 9
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Adair County

227 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 65
2022 45
2023 8
2024 11
2025 98
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 24 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
72%
50
Cause undetermined
10%
7
Intentional / arson
1%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
6
Under investigation
3%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
3
05 The biggest fires

7 fires · $530K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Adair County during 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 DUNNVILLE Building fires Significant
2 $130,000 Breeding Fire, other Significant
3 $100,000 Columbia Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 Columbia Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $40,000 Knifley Building fires Significant
6 $5,000 Columbia Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $5,000 RUSSELLL SPRINGS Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Adair County compares

Adair County vs KY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

20.37
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Adair County
20.37
KY avg
10.83
US avg
7.15
4.99
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Adair County
4.99
KY avg
1.34
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Adair County
0
KY avg
13.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Adair County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 21001.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Adair County

3 departments report from this county.

ADAIR COUNTY
—
FDID 01001 88 incidents
COLUMBIA
—
FDID 01002 0 incidents
ZION
—
FDID 51252 0 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in KY

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Cut Gap 2022 USFS 2,468
2 Blockhouse 2006 USFS 1,896
3 KDF - Confluence 2 2024 USFS 675
4 Addison 2016 USFS 643
5 POORVALLEY 1986 NPS 626
6 Big Valley 2021 USFS 552
7 CUB RUN 1935 NPS 499
8 Hurricane 2022 USFS 485
9 Rockcastle Fire 2019 USFS 484
10 Enoch 2021 USFS 429

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.