In 2025, fire departments serving Gallipolis Ferry responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $28K 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 86% of all calls.
Jan peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
130 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $451K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 21 | — | |
| 2022 | 35 | +66.7% | |
| 2023* | 10 | — | |
| 2024 | 42 | — | |
| 2025 | 22 | -47.6% |
* Well below Gallipolis Ferry's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 9 building fires Gallipolis Ferry departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 51 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 | 40 | 78.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 6 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 2.0% |
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 Gallipolis Ferry mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 44 | 86.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 6 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 2.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gallipolis Ferry departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $27,800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $4,500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gallipolis Ferry sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,858 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,328 | 49.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,624 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 1,550 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,391 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 754 | 43.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 746 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 736 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 44.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 45.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 481 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 476 | 41.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 467 | 48.5 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 Gallipolis Ferry. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.