In 2025, fire departments serving Harrisville responded to 39 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K 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 74% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
168 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $843K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | — | |
| 2022 | 32 | +45.5% | |
| 2023* | 20 | — | |
| 2024 | 55 | — | |
| 2025 | 39 | -29.1% |
* Well below Harrisville'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 1 building fires Harrisville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 39 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 | 20 | 51.3% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Closet | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Wall assembly | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 7.7% |
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 Harrisville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 61.5% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Lightning | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Candle | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Harrisville departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $4,500 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Harrisville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,474 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 236 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 162 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 147 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 15.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 125 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 121 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 109 | 13.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 102 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 100 | 32.3 mi |
Top 3 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 Harrisville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Harrisville.
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.