In 2025, fire departments serving Lewisburg responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $35K 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.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
404 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 64 | — | |
| 2022 | 106 | +65.6% | |
| 2023 | 81 | -23.6% | |
| 2024 | 75 | -7.4% | |
| 2025 | 78 | +4.0% |
For the 13 building fires Lewisburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 122 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 | 31 | 25.4% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 8.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 8 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 7 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 6 | 4.9% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 4.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 24 | 19.7% |
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 Lewisburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 37 | 30.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 27 | 22.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 16 | 13.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 10 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Radiated heat from another fire | 6 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 9.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lewisburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 88% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $9,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $7,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $6,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $4,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lewisburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 70,152 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 15,454 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 11,381 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Fireworks | 7,351 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,990 | 40.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,706 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 3,200 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,738 | 31.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 2,151 | 32.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 44.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,678 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,676 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,550 | 45.6 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 Lewisburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lewisburg.
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.