In 2025, fire departments serving Kingwood responded to 31 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K 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 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
153 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $658K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 32 | — | |
| 2022 | 35 | +9.4% | |
| 2023 | 34 | -2.9% | |
| 2024 | 21 | -38.2% | |
| 2025 | 31 | +47.6% |
For the 6 building fires Kingwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 50 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 34.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 8 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 22.0% |
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 Kingwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 30 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 7 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Munitions | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kingwood departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $24,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Outside gas or vapor combustion explosion | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $9,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $7,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Commercial Compactor fire, confined to rubbish | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kingwood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,806 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,800 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,611 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,289 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 467 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 428 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Smoking | 394 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 197 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 150 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 125 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 117 | 32.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 115 | 33.3 mi |
Top 5 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 Kingwood. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kingwood.
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.