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2025 County Report

Fires in Knott County, KY

In 2025, fire departments serving Knott County responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $110K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

1,190 residents FIPS 21119 38 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
29
202 across 5 years
Building fires
6
4 wildland
Property loss
$205K
$181K structure · $23K 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 69% of all calls.

29
Total Incidents
Building fires 6 20.7%
Hazardous condition, other 6 20.7%
Power line down 4 13.8%
Fire, other 2 6.9%
Passenger vehicle fire 2 6.9%
All other categories 9 31.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Knott County?

Jan peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 7
Feb 1
Mar 2
Apr 4
May 1
Jun 3
Jul 5
Aug 2
Sep 1
Oct 0
Nov 3
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Knott County

202 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 40
2022 49
2023 42
2024 42
2025 29
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
22%
2
Cause undetermined
44%
4
Intentional / arson
11%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
22%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $181K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Knott County during 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $110,000 Mouise Building fires Significant
2 $30,000 leburn Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $26,333 Vest Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
4 $10,000 Pippa Passes Building fires Significant
5 $5,000 leburn Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Knott County compares

Knott County vs KY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

24.37
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Knott County
24.37
KY avg
10.83
US avg
7.15
5.04
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Knott County
5.04
KY avg
1.34
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Knott County
0
KY avg
13.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Knott County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 21119.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Knott County

9 departments report from this county.

BALL CREEK VOLUNTEER
—
FDID 60809 12 incidents
PIPPA PASSES
—
FDID 60614 11 incidents
KNOTT COUNTY
—
FDID 60329 4 incidents
LOTTS CREEK VOLUNTEER
—
FDID 60753 3 incidents
JONES FORK
—
FDID 60750 2 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.