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2025 County Report

Fires in Butler County, KY

In 2025, fire departments serving Butler County responded to 49 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $45K property loss.

2,981 residents FIPS 21031 41 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
49
333 across 5 years
Building fires
6
24 wildland
Property loss
$110K
$55K structure · $55K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.

49
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 13 26.5%
Grass fire 9 18.4%
Fire, other 6 12.2%
Building fires 6 12.2%
Fires in structures other than in a building 5 10.2%
All other categories 10 20.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Butler County?

Mar peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 2
Feb 3
Mar 25
Apr 2
May 2
Jun 1
Jul 0
Aug 0
Sep 7
Oct 1
Nov 4
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Butler County

333 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 47
2022 73
2023 101
2024 63
2025 49
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 6 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
78%
7
Cause undetermined
11%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $55K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Butler County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $45,000 MORGANTOWN Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other Significant
2 $10,000 MORGANTOWN Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
06 How Butler County compares

Butler County vs KY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.44
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Butler County
16.44
KY avg
10.83
US avg
7.15
2.01
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Butler County
2.01
KY avg
1.34
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Butler County
0
KY avg
13.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Butler County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 21031.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Butler County

5 departments report from this county.

5TH DISTRICT RURAL
—
FDID 16825 26 incidents
MORGANTOWN
Morgantown
FDID 16071 14 incidents 26 vol
ROCHESTER
—
FDID 16072 5 incidents 14 vol
4TH DISTRICTS VOLUNTEER
—
FDID 16834 1 incidents
2ND DISTRICT VOL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 16869 0 incidents 19 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.