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2025 County Report

Fires in Ballard County, KY

In 2025, fire departments serving Ballard County responded to 74 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss.

3,050 residents FIPS 21007 15 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
74
373 across 5 years
Building fires
23
13 wildland
Property loss
$1.2M
$818K structure · $368K 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 64% of all calls.

74
Total Incidents
Building fires 23 31.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 9 12.2%
Power line down 6 8.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 5 6.8%
Fire, other 4 5.4%
All other categories 27 36.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ballard County?

Jan peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 14
Feb 4
Mar 7
Apr 6
May 5
Jun 9
Jul 3
Aug 7
Sep 6
Oct 2
Nov 5
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ballard County

373 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 44
2022 110
2023 94
2024 51
2025 74
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 23 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
71%
10
Cause undetermined
29%
4
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $818K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Ballard County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Barlow Building fires Significant
2 $150,000 Barlow Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 Barlow Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 Wickliffe Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 Kevil Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 La Center Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
7 $15,000 La Center Fire, other Significant
8 $1,500 Kevil Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
9 $1,000 Wickliffe Building fires Significant
10 $500 La Center Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire Significant
06 How Ballard County compares

Ballard County vs KY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

24.26
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ballard County
24.26
KY avg
10.83
US avg
7.15
7.54
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ballard County
7.54
KY avg
1.34
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ballard County
0
KY avg
13.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ballard County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 21007.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Ballard County

10 departments report from this county.

BARLOW
—
FDID 04009 19 incidents
WICKLIFFE
—
FDID 04012 17 incidents
BANDANA
—
FDID 04008 6 incidents 1 vol
KEVIL
—
FDID 04010 0 incidents
LACENTER
—
FDID 04011 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.