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2025 County Report

Fires in Perry County, KY

In 2025, fire departments serving Perry County responded to 70 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

6,198 residents FIPS 21193 54 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
70
615 across 5 years
Building fires
17
4 wildland
Property loss
$1.8M
$1.2M structure · $644K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.

70
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 21 30.0%
Building fires 17 24.3%
Fire, other 8 11.4%
Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence 5 7.1%
Passenger vehicle fire 5 7.1%
All other categories 14 20.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Perry County?

Jan peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 26
Feb 22
Mar 4
Apr 3
May 1
Jun 1
Jul 4
Aug 1
Sep 1
Oct 2
Nov 5
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Perry County

615 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 132
2022 114
2023 186
2024 113
2025 70
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 17 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
33%
10
Cause undetermined
27%
8
Intentional / arson
17%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
2
Under investigation
7%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
9%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Perry County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 89% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Chavies Fire, other Major
2 $200,000 HAZARD Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 VIPER Fire, other Significant
4 $100,000 CHAVIES Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 Hazard Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Hazard Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $50,000 Hazard Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $50,000 Hazard Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
9 $40,000 HAZARD Building fires Significant
10 $35,000 BULAN Fire, other Significant
06 How Perry County compares

Perry County vs KY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.29
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Perry County
11.29
KY avg
10.83
US avg
7.15
2.74
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Perry County
2.74
KY avg
1.34
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Perry County
0
KY avg
13.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Perry County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 21193.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Perry County

11 departments report from this county.

Hazard Fire Dept HQ
Hazard
FDID 97499 36 incidents 18 paid
JAKES BRANCH
—
FDID 97835 6 incidents
GRAPEVINE AND CHAVIES
—
FDID 97810 5 incidents
VIPER FIRE RESCUE
Viper
FDID 97738 2 incidents 22 vol
LEATHERWOOD
—
FDID 97501 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.