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2025 County Report

Fires in Graves County, KY

In 2025, fire departments serving Graves County responded to 175 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss.

12,331 residents FIPS 21083 39 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
175
933 across 5 years
Building fires
25
37 wildland
Property loss
$2.7M
$2.2M structure · $468K contents
Casualties
3 / 1
3 civ deaths · 1 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 52% of all calls.

175
Total Incidents
Building fires 25 14.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 23 13.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 17 9.7%
Hazardous condition, other 17 9.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 9 5.1%
All other categories 84 48.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Graves County?

Jan peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 21
Feb 8
Mar 18
Apr 18
May 10
Jun 15
Jul 13
Aug 12
Sep 20
Oct 17
Nov 13
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Graves County

933 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 165
2022 284
2023 171
2024 138
2025 175
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 25 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
43%
30
Cause undetermined
29%
20
Intentional / arson
9%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
8
Under investigation
7%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Graves County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 90% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 Mayfield Building fires Major
2 $200,000 Mayfield Building fires Significant
3 $200,000 Mayfield Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
4 $200,000 Hickory Building fires Significant
5 $80,000 Mayfield Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 Mayfield Building fires Significant
7 $60,000 WATER VALLEY Building fires Significant
8 $60,000 WATER VALLEY Building fires Significant
9 $60,000 WINGO Building fires Significant
10 $40,000 hickory Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Graves County compares

Graves County vs KY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.19
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Graves County
14.19
KY avg
10.83
US avg
7.15
2.03
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Graves County
2.03
KY avg
1.34
US avg
0.82
243.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Graves County
243.3
KY avg
13.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Graves County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 21083.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Graves County

13 departments report from this county.

WATER VALLEY
—
FDID 42801 31 incidents
CLEAR SPRINGS
—
FDID 42795 21 incidents
MELBER VOLUNTEER
—
FDID 42618 20 incidents
VIOLA VOLUNTEER
Hickory
FDID 42747 11 incidents 20 vol
SYMSONIA
—
FDID 42192 6 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.