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2025 County Report

Fires in Hancock County, KY

In 2025, fire departments serving Hancock County responded to 70 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $65K property loss.

3,223 residents FIPS 21091 17 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
70
450 across 5 years
Building fires
12
19 wildland
Property loss
$466K
$340K structure · $126K contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 2 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.

70
Total Incidents
Building fires 12 17.1%
Power line down 10 14.3%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 9 12.9%
Hazardous condition, other 7 10.0%
Natural vegetation fire, other 5 7.1%
All other categories 27 38.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Hancock County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 17
Feb 14
Mar 20
Apr 7
May 4
Jun 3
Jul 2
Aug 1
Sep 1
Oct 1
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Hancock County

450 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 29
2022 126
2023 155
2024 70
2025 70
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 12 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
8
Cause undetermined
31%
4
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
8%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

9 fires · $340K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Hancock County during 2025. These 9 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $65,000 LEWISPORT Building fires Significant
2 $50,000 Hawesville Building fires Significant
3 $50,000 Hawesville Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 Hawesville Building fires Significant
5 $30,000 Hawesville Building fires Significant
6 $30,000 Lewisport Outside storage fire Significant
7 $25,000 Hawesville Building fires Significant
8 $20,000 Hawesville Building fires Significant
9 $20,000 Hawesville Building fires Significant
06 How Hancock County compares

Hancock County vs KY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

21.72
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Hancock County
21.72
KY avg
10.83
US avg
7.15
3.72
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Hancock County
3.72
KY avg
1.34
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Hancock County
0
KY avg
13.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Hancock County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 21091.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Hancock County

2 departments report from this county.

Hawesville Vol Fire Dept
Hawesville
FDID 46210 27 incidents 16 vol
Dukes Volunteer Fire Dept Inc
Hawesville
FDID 46667 18 incidents 17 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.