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2025 County Report

Fires in McCreary County, KY

In 2025, fire departments serving McCreary County responded to 130 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $70K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

3,855 residents FIPS 21147 28 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
130
515 across 5 years
Building fires
27
41 wildland
Property loss
$175K
$120K structure · $55K 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 60% of all calls.

130
Total Incidents
Building fires 27 20.8%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 18 13.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 13 10.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 10 7.7%
Power line down 10 7.7%
All other categories 52 40.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in McCreary County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 5
Feb 12
Mar 39
Apr 16
May 9
Jun 7
Jul 6
Aug 7
Sep 7
Oct 16
Nov 5
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in McCreary County

515 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 98
2022 82
2023 88
2024 117
2025 130
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 27 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
23%
16
Cause undetermined
28%
19
Intentional / arson
7%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
41%
28
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $120K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in McCreary County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $70,000 parkers lake Building fires Significant
2 $50,000 Parkers Lake Building fires Significant
06 How McCreary County compares

McCreary County vs KY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

33.72
Incidents per 1,000 residents
McCreary County
33.72
KY avg
10.83
US avg
7.15
7
Building fires per 1,000 residents
McCreary County
7
KY avg
1.34
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
McCreary County
0
KY avg
13.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in McCreary County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 21147.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in McCreary County

4 departments report from this county.

SOUTH MCCREARY COUNTY
pine knot
FDID 74429 106 incidents 20 vol
EAGLE SAWYER
—
FDID 74684 32 incidents
N MCCREARY CO FIRE PROTECTIO
—
FDID 74427 0 incidents 30 vol
McCreary County FPD
Whitley City
FDID 74428 0 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.