In 2025, fire departments serving Parkersburg responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
56 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $913K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 14 | +55.6% | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 10 | — | |
| 2025 | 17 | +70.0% |
* Well below Parkersburg'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 Parkersburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 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 | 8 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 27.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 4 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 4.5% |
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 Parkersburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 54.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Parkersburg departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $500 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Parkersburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,733 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 750 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 175 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 40.0 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50665 | 56 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Parkersburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.