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2025 County Report

Fires in Laurel County, KY

In 2025, fire departments serving Laurel County responded to 194 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

10,417 residents FIPS 21125 41 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
194
1,994 across 5 years
Building fires
35
34 wildland
Property loss
$604K
$332K structure · $272K 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 53% of all calls.

194
Total Incidents
Building fires 35 18.0%
Fire, other 26 13.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 18 9.3%
Grass fire 14 7.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 10 5.2%
All other categories 91 46.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Laurel County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 9
Feb 18
Mar 43
Apr 28
May 17
Jun 12
Jul 11
Aug 10
Sep 17
Oct 14
Nov 7
Dec 8
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Laurel County

1,994 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 810
2022 449
2023 314
2024 227
2025 194
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 35 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
29%
30
Cause undetermined
46%
48
Intentional / arson
7%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
3%
3
Under investigation
15%
16
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $331K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Laurel County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 East Bernstadt Building fires Significant
2 $75,000 London Building fires Significant
3 $20,000 London Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $10,000 London Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $9,000 London Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $5,000 London Building fires Significant
7 $5,000 London Outside storage fire Significant
8 $3,000 London Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
9 $2,500 London Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
10 $1,000 London Building fires Significant
06 How Laurel County compares

Laurel County vs KY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

18.62
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Laurel County
18.62
KY avg
10.83
US avg
7.15
3.36
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Laurel County
3.36
KY avg
1.34
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Laurel County
0
KY avg
13.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Laurel County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 21125.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Laurel County

10 departments report from this county.

LONDON
—
FDID 63343 112 incidents
KEAVY
Corbin
FDID 63340 33 incidents 31 vol
CROSSROADS
East Bernstadt
FDID 63770 28 incidents 19 vol
CAMP GROUND
—
FDID 63703 20 incidents 22 vol
SWISS COLONY VOL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 63875 13 incidents 1 paid
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.