In 2025, fire departments serving Hinton responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K 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 54% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
366 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $394K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 66 | — | |
| 2022 | 52 | -21.2% | |
| 2023 | 104 | +100.0% | |
| 2024 | 96 | -7.7% | |
| 2025 | 48 | -50.0% |
For the 10 building fires Hinton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 73 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 | 54.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 9.6% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 15.1% |
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 Hinton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 64 | 87.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 5 | Incendiary device | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 1.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hinton departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,300 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hinton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 72,298 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 11,381 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Fireworks | 7,351 | 44.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 4,637 | 40.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,706 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,484 | 35.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,358 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 3,186 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,171 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,859 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,738 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,533 | 43.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 2,151 | 43.4 mi |
Top 4 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 Hinton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hinton.
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.