In 2025, fire departments across Kentucky responded to 29,120 fire and hazmat incidents — including the Cut Gap wildfire that burned 2,468 acres in 2022.
Kentucky ranks #34 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 41% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Mar peaks across the window; Dec dips.
149,622 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 26,857 | |
| 2022 | 31,787 | |
| 2023 | 32,026 | |
| 2024 | 29,832 | |
| 2025 | 29,120 |
For the 3,607 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined / missing | 22,004 | 7,661 / 14,343 | 206,524 | |
| 2 | Debris & open burning | 11,348 | 11,348 / 0 | 378,975 | |
| 3 | Arson / incendiarism | 11,262 | 7,049 / 4,213 | 475,253 | |
| 4 | Equipment & vehicle use | 3,949 | 348 / 3,601 | 6,988 | |
| 5 | Recreation & ceremony | 3,452 | 3,452 / 0 | 64,626 | |
| 6 | Natural (lightning) | 926 | 145 / 781 | 4,373 | |
| 7 | Other causes | 633 | 3 / 630 | 190 | |
| 8 | Railroad operations | 434 | 434 / 0 | 7,613 | |
| 9 | Smoking | 244 | 244 / 0 | 3,054 | |
| 10 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 147 | 147 / 0 | 4,682 | |
| 11 | Power generation / utility | 37 | 37 / 0 | 1,558 | |
| 12 | Fireworks | 6 | 6 / 0 | 126 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outdoor fires | 33,280 | $2.9M | 6 | |
| 2 | Building fires | 31,182 | $401.4M | 172 | |
| 3 | Gas leaks | 18,588 | $1.9M | 0 | |
| 4 | Electrical / wiring | 18,086 | $2.8M | 0 | |
| 5 | Wildland fires | 17,624 | $2.2M | 6 | |
| 6 | Rubbish / refuse | 11,983 | $1.3M | 0 | |
| 7 | Vehicle fires | 11,127 | $98.5M | 39 | |
| 8 | Cooking-related | 5,506 | $611K | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 3,640 | $18.5M | 6 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 16% of Kentucky's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8,700,000 | Danville | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $2,500,000 | LEXINGTON | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $2,000,000 | OWENSBORO | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $2,000,000 | Crestwood | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $1,811,600 | LOUISVILLE | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $1,500,000 | GEORGETOWN | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $1,000,000 | LOUISVILLE | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $1,000,000 | Danville | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $1,000,000 | LEXINGTON | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $1,000,000 | Midway | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare Kentucky apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jefferson County | 5,459 | 778,821 |
| 2 | Fayette County | 2,129 | 321,276 |
| 3 | Boone County | 896 | 91,950 |
| 4 | Madison County | 879 | 50,287 |
| 5 | Warren County | 863 | 75,393 |
| 6 | Kenton County | 754 | 155,407 |
| 7 | Harrison County | 680 | 6,519 |
| 8 | Pulaski County | 635 | 15,091 |
| 9 | Campbell County | 590 | 78,918 |
| 10 | Boyd County | 559 | 29,672 |
Top 10 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madison County | 17.48 | 879 | 50,287 | |
| 2 | Warren County | 11.45 | 863 | 75,393 | |
| 3 | Boone County | 9.74 | 896 | 91,950 | |
| 4 | Christian County | 8.38 | 442 | 52,770 | |
| 5 | Campbell County | 7.48 | 590 | 78,918 | |
| 6 | Jefferson County | 7.01 | 5,459 | 778,821 | |
| 7 | Fayette County | 6.63 | 2,129 | 321,276 | |
| 8 | Hardin County | 5.75 | 434 | 75,478 | |
| 9 | Daviess County | 5.50 | 396 | 72,055 | |
| 10 | Kenton County | 4.85 | 754 | 155,407 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
257 perimeters and 18,103 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 12 | 684 | |
| 1940s | 1 | 19 | |
| 1950s | 1 | 29 | |
| 1970s | 1 | 6 | |
| 1980s | 24 | 1,121 | |
| 1990s | 42 | 1,003 | |
| 2000s | 28 | 2,320 | |
| 2010s | 39 | 3,614 | |
| 2020s | 109 | 9,307 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 4,071 | |
| 2000s | 15,605 | |
| 2010s | 10,685 | |
| 2020s | 513 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 30,874 ignitions total.
995 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 39 | |
| 10-19 | 34 | |
| 20-29 | 154 | |
| 30-39 | 221 | |
| 40-49 | 178 | |
| 50-59 | 111 | |
| 60-69 | 97 | |
| 70-79 | 76 | |
| 80+ | 40 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.