In 2025, fire departments serving Beckley responded to 180 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,100 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.8M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 201 | — | |
| 2022 | 229 | +13.9% | |
| 2023 | 234 | +2.2% | |
| 2024 | 256 | +9.4% | |
| 2025 | 180 | -29.7% |
For the 32 building fires Beckley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 271 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 100 | 36.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 23 | 8.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 21 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 20 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 62 | 22.9% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Beckley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 184 | 67.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 6.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 13 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 0.7% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 0.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 3.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Beckley departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $14,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Beckley sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 68,292 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,832 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,850 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 4,637 | 25.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,706 | 26.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,484 | 17.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,358 | 15.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,328 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 3,186 | 30.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,171 | 27.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,859 | 14.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,533 | 29.9 mi |
Top 8 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six West Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Beckley. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Beckley.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.