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2025 County Report

Fires in Pulaski County, KY

In 2025, fire departments serving Pulaski County responded to 635 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $325K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

15,091 residents FIPS 21199 83 cities · 14 fire depts
Total incidents
635
2,842 across 5 years
Building fires
152
79 wildland
Property loss
$2.1M
$1.5M structure · $549K 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 63% of all calls.

635
Total Incidents
Authorized controlled burning 156 24.6%
Building fires 152 23.9%
Unauthorized burning 35 5.5%
Grass fire 30 4.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 24 3.8%
All other categories 238 37.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Pulaski County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 48
Feb 35
Mar 87
Apr 69
May 50
Jun 37
Jul 54
Aug 54
Sep 73
Oct 56
Nov 49
Dec 23
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Pulaski County

2,842 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 423
2022 525
2023 556
2024 703
2025 635
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 152 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
31%
58
Cause undetermined
34%
64
Intentional / arson
11%
20
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
16
Under investigation
13%
25
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Pulaski County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 95% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $325,000 SOMERSET Building fires Major
2 $300,000 science hill Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
3 $200,000 FERGUSON Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 SOMERSET Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Somerset Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 SOMERSET Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 SOMERSET Building fires Significant
8 $75,000 FERGUSON Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 Somerset Building fires Significant
10 $40,000 Science Hill Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Pulaski County compares

Pulaski County vs KY vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

42.08
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Pulaski County
42.08
KY avg
10.83
US avg
7.15
10.07
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Pulaski County
10.07
KY avg
1.34
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Pulaski County
0
KY avg
13.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Pulaski County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 21199.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Pulaski County

14 departments report from this county.

SOMERSET
Somerset
FDID 00525 201 incidents 27 paid 23 vol
PARKERS MILL
Somerset
FDID 00619 150 incidents
Ferguson
Ferguson
FDID 00526 90 incidents 23 vol
SCIENCE HILL
—
FDID 00524 56 incidents
TATEVILLE
—
FDID 00528 49 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.