In 2025, fire departments serving Knox County responded to 452 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.8M property loss.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Dec dips.
2,885 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 501 | |
| 2022 | 787 | |
| 2023 | 591 | |
| 2024 | 554 | |
| 2025 | 452 |
For the 128 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Knox County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 90% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,800,000 | Fredericktown | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $500,000 | Fredericktown | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $300,000 | Howard | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $250,000 | CENTERBURG | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $200,000 | Fredericktown | Building fires | Significant |
| 6 | $200,000 | Fredericktown | Building fires | Significant |
| 7 | $150,000 | Fredericktown | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $100,000 | Howard | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $100,000 | GAMBIER | Outside equipment fire | Significant |
| 10 | $100,000 | Howard | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 39083.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Mount Vernon | 16,861 | View › |
| Apple Valley | 5,217 | View › |
| Fredericktown | 2,642 | View › |
| Gambier | 2,000 | View › |
| Centerburg | 1,875 | View › |
| South Mount Vernon | 853 | View › |
| Danville | 784 | View › |
| Howard | 463 | View › |
| Bladensburg | 263 | View › |
| Martinsburg | 224 | View › |
| Gann | 117 | View › |
| Amity | 0 | View › |
1 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OHOTR-FY19-RX-Blausey Spring 2019 WUI | 2019 | FWS | 125 |
| 2 | Little Storm Creek | 2020 | USFS | 122 |
| 3 | GREEN | 2015 | USFS | 109 |
| 4 | THIRTEEN | 2018 | USFS | 105 |
| 5 | Terra Vista Prescribe Fire | 2021 | NPS | 79 |
| 6 | Lawco | 2023 | USFS | 61 |
| 7 | 128 | 2021 | USFS | 51 |
| 8 | FY23 NERI RX Burns | 2022 | NPS | 40 |
| 9 | Rock Hollow | 2023 | USFS | 29 |
| 10 | HOADLEY | 2018 | USFS | 24 |
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.