In 2025, fire departments serving Clarksburg responded to 299 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 69% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,620 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.7M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 298 | — | |
| 2022 | 333 | +11.7% | |
| 2023 | 300 | -9.9% | |
| 2024 | 390 | +30.0% | |
| 2025 | 299 | -23.3% |
For the 89 building fires Clarksburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 323 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 | 87 | 26.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 50 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 4.6% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 15 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 13 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 12 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 100 | 31.0% |
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 Clarksburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 204 | 63.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 20 | 6.2% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated heat from another fire | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 30 | 9.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Clarksburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $71,100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Clarksburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
13 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,630 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Smoking | 394 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 150 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 147 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 125 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 121 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 117 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 109 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 102 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 100 | 33.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 38.9 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 Clarksburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Clarksburg.
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.