In 2025, fire departments serving Morgantown responded to 725 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $700K 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 60% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,522 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $11.3M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 590 | — | |
| 2022 | 768 | +30.2% | |
| 2023 | 686 | -10.7% | |
| 2024 | 753 | +9.8% | |
| 2025 | 725 | -3.7% |
For the 135 building fires Morgantown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 697 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 | 125 | 17.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 108 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 95 | 13.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 74 | 10.6% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 38 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 35 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 23 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Other | 18 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 17 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 15 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 149 | 21.4% |
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 Morgantown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 389 | 55.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 60 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 42 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 28 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 26 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 24 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 21 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Match | 19 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 58 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Morgantown departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 87% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $700,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $700,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $80,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Morgantown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 7 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,731 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Smoking | 394 | 14.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 117 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 102 | 36.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 76 | 29.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 71 | 36.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 70 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 62 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 24.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 50 | 22.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 46 | 45.6 mi |
Top 10 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 Morgantown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Morgantown.
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.