In 2025, fire departments serving Huntington responded to 673 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $311K 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 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,900 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $7.9M cumulative property loss. 15 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 829 | — | |
| 2022 | 707 | -14.7% | |
| 2023 | 872 | +23.3% | |
| 2024 | 819 | -6.1% | |
| 2025 | 673 | -17.8% |
For the 128 building fires Huntington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,606 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 | 462 | 28.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 207 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 109 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 99 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 98 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 56 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 55 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 38 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 30 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 30 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 422 | 26.3% |
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 Huntington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1,101 | 68.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 67 | 4.2% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 59 | 3.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 45 | 2.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 42 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 38 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 37 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 30 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 30 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 24 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 133 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Huntington departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 52% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $311,400 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $205,400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $205,400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $104,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Huntington sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
83 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 | 5 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 12 | |
| 30-39 | 17 | |
| 40-49 | 18 | |
| 50-59 | 9 | |
| 60-69 | 7 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 44,655 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 | 40.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,865 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,250 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,200 | 39.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,090 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,934 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,880 | 49.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,769 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,739 | 34.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,678 | 34.2 mi |
Top 10 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 Huntington. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Huntington.
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.