In 2025, fire departments serving Bluefield responded to 154 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
910 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 155 | — | |
| 2022 | 214 | +38.1% | |
| 2023 | 174 | -18.7% | |
| 2024 | 213 | +22.4% | |
| 2025 | 154 | -27.7% |
For the 32 building fires Bluefield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 242 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 | 84 | 34.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 27 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 19 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Other | 14 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 13 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 12 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 44 | 18.2% |
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 Bluefield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 142 | 58.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 18 | 7.4% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 14 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Molten, hot material | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 5.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bluefield departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $190,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $21,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $19,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $18,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bluefield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 49,450 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 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,850 | 30.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,484 | 42.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,358 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 3,186 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,859 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,533 | 34.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,825 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 1,666 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,619 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,538 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,531 | 28.4 mi |
Top 5 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 Bluefield. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bluefield.
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.