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2025 County Report

Fires in Powell County, KY

In 2025, fire departments serving Powell County responded to 91 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $117K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

4,781 residents FIPS 21197 11 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
91
408 across 5 years
Building fires
9
12 wildland
Property loss
$385K
$335K structure · $50K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.

91
Total Incidents
Authorized controlled burning 18 19.8%
Fires in structures other than in a building 12 13.2%
Building fires 9 9.9%
Hazardous condition, other 7 7.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 6 6.6%
All other categories 39 42.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Powell County?

Nov peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 8
Feb 3
Mar 10
Apr 8
May 6
Jun 11
Jul 5
Aug 9
Sep 6
Oct 8
Nov 12
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Powell County

408 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 88
2022 81
2023 72
2024 76
2025 91
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 9 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
19%
5
Cause undetermined
26%
7
Intentional / arson
4%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
2
Under investigation
44%
12
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

7 fires · $335K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Powell County during 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $117,100 CLAY CITY Building fires Significant
2 $117,100 CLAY CITY Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 CLAY CITY Building fires Significant
4 $750 CLAY CITY Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
5 $1 stanton Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
6 $1 stanton Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
7 $1 stanton Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Powell County compares

Powell County vs KY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

19.03
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Powell County
19.03
KY avg
10.83
US avg
7.15
1.88
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Powell County
1.88
KY avg
1.34
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Powell County
0
KY avg
13.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Powell County

11 cities mapped to FIPS 21197.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Powell County

3 departments report from this county.

MIDDLE FORK FIRE DEPT
SLADE
FDID 99874 57 incidents 21 vol
CLAY CITY
CLAY CITY
FDID 99518 30 incidents 16 vol
STANTON
—
FDID 99520 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.