In 2025, fire departments serving Buckhannon responded to 202 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K 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 62% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,036 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $4.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 245 | — | |
| 2022 | 228 | -6.9% | |
| 2023 | 179 | -21.5% | |
| 2024 | 182 | +1.7% | |
| 2025 | 202 | +11.0% |
For the 27 building fires Buckhannon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 195 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 | 61 | 31.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 21 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 55 | 28.2% |
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 Buckhannon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 130 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 14 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 2 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 5.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Buckhannon departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $36,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $26,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,400 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $17,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Buckhannon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,896 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 894 | 43.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 395 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 236 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 200 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 150 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 147 | 45.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Smoking | 142 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 140 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 49.3 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 Buckhannon. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Buckhannon.
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.