In 2025, fire departments serving McMechen responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
68 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $112K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 20 | +81.8% | |
| 2024 | 19 | -5.0% | |
| 2025 | 10 | -47.4% |
* Well below McMechen'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 0 building fires McMechen departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 1 | 12.5% |
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 McMechen mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 37.5% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 12.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. McMechen sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,484 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 147 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 102 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 49.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 71 | 35.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 62 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 55 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 8.5 mi |
Top 3 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 McMechen. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in McMechen.
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.