In 2025, fire departments serving Jane Lew responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Jane Lew's departments reported 38 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 74 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
368 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 83 | — | |
| 2022 | 77 | -7.2% | |
| 2023 | 106 | +37.7% | |
| 2024 | 64 | -39.6% | |
| 2025* | 38 | — |
* Well below Jane Lew'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 6 building fires Jane Lew departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 54 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 | 14 | 25.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 11.1% |
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 Jane Lew mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 46.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 6 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 7.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Jane Lew departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $8,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Jane Lew sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,661 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 894 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 395 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 236 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 200 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 150 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 147 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 125 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 121 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 120 | 46.1 mi |
Top 2 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 Jane Lew. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Jane Lew.
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.