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2025 County Report

Fires in Madison County, KY

In 2025, fire departments serving Madison County responded to 879 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $425K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

50,287 residents FIPS 21151 41 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
879
3,570 across 5 years
Building fires
115
117 wildland
Property loss
$3.4M
$2.5M structure · $934K contents
Casualties
1 / 3
1 civ deaths · 3 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 44% of all calls.

879
Total Incidents
Building fires 115 13.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 92 10.5%
Power line down 73 8.3%
Authorized controlled burning 58 6.6%
Unauthorized burning 51 5.8%
All other categories 490 55.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Madison County?

Mar peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 84
Feb 69
Mar 127
Apr 68
May 54
Jun 43
Jul 64
Aug 70
Sep 85
Oct 80
Nov 79
Dec 56
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Madison County

3,570 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 500
2022 833
2023 791
2024 567
2025 879
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 115 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
49%
205
Cause undetermined
22%
91
Intentional / arson
11%
44
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
31
Under investigation
9%
36
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
8
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Madison County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 83% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $425,000 Richmond Building fires Major
2 $400,000 Richmond Building fires Major
3 $200,000 Berea Building fires Significant
4 $200,000 Berea Building fires Significant
5 $200,000 Berea Building fires Significant
6 $200,000 Berea Building fires Significant
7 $160,000 Richmond Building fires Significant
8 $125,000 Richmond Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 BereaCCD Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 Berea Building fires Significant
06 How Madison County compares

Madison County vs KY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

17.48
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Madison County
17.48
KY avg
10.83
US avg
7.15
2.29
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Madison County
2.29
KY avg
1.34
US avg
0.82
19.9
Civilian fire deaths per million
Madison County
19.9
KY avg
13.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Madison County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 21151.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Madison County

7 departments report from this county.

RICHMOND
—
FDID 76385 243 incidents
MADISON CO
—
FDID 76387 201 incidents
BEREA
—
FDID 76383 175 incidents
WHITE HALL VOLUNTEER
—
FDID 76677 83 incidents
KIRKSVILLE
—
FDID 76389 52 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.