In 2025, fire departments serving Hurricane responded to 116 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 65% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
791 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $613K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 145 | — | |
| 2022 | 133 | -8.3% | |
| 2023 | 214 | +60.9% | |
| 2024 | 183 | -14.5% | |
| 2025 | 116 | -36.6% |
For the 30 building fires Hurricane departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 258 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 | Outside area, other | 46 | 17.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 30 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 26 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 20 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 19 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 15 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 12 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 12 | 4.7% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 65 | 25.2% |
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 Hurricane mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 105 | 40.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 25 | 9.7% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 16 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 13 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 9 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 39 | 15.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hurricane departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $7,500 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hurricane sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 56,032 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Fireworks | 4,637 | 42.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,484 | 49.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,358 | 48.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,328 | 24.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,171 | 38.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,250 | 28.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,233 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,090 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 2,063 | 39.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,033 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 45.5 mi |
Top 6 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 Hurricane. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hurricane.
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.