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2025 County Report

Fires in Bourbon County, KY

In 2025, fire departments serving Bourbon County responded to 142 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $600K property loss.

11,717 residents FIPS 21017 21 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
142
366 across 5 years
Building fires
21
12 wildland
Property loss
$2.0M
$1.7M structure · $342K 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 45% of all calls.

142
Total Incidents
Building fires 21 14.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 14 9.9%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 10 7.0%
Authorized controlled burning 10 7.0%
Fire, other 9 6.3%
All other categories 78 54.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Bourbon County?

Aug peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 12
Feb 5
Mar 11
Apr 5
May 12
Jun 9
Jul 8
Aug 22
Sep 18
Oct 13
Nov 15
Dec 12
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Bourbon County

366 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 81
2022 42
2023 25
2024 76
2025 142
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 21 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
35%
17
Cause undetermined
37%
18
Intentional / arson
4%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
3
Under investigation
14%
7
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Bourbon County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 95% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $600,000 Paris Building fires Major
2 $500,000 Paris Building fires Major
3 $200,000 paris Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
4 $100,000 Paris Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 Paris Building fires Significant
6 $40,000 Paris Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
7 $30,000 NORTH MIDDLETOWN Building fires Significant
8 $30,000 Paris Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 Paris Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
10 $15,000 Paris Building fires Significant
06 How Bourbon County compares

Bourbon County vs KY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.12
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Bourbon County
12.12
KY avg
10.83
US avg
7.15
1.79
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Bourbon County
1.79
KY avg
1.34
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Bourbon County
0
KY avg
13.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Bourbon County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 21017.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Bourbon County

7 departments report from this county.

Paris Fire Department Station
Paris
FDID 09039 89 incidents 31 paid
NORTH MIDDLETON
North Middletown
FDID 09038 20 incidents 15 vol
MILLERSBURG
Millersburg
FDID 09037 0 incidents 18 vol
CLINTONVILLE VOLUNTEER
—
FDID 09799 0 incidents
Ruddle Mills
Cynthiana
FDID 09934 0 incidents 16 vol
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.