In 2025, fire departments serving Parkersburg responded to 581 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,009 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $7.1M cumulative property loss. 8 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 841 | — | |
| 2022 | 820 | -2.5% | |
| 2023 | 937 | +14.3% | |
| 2024 | 830 | -11.4% | |
| 2025 | 581 | -30.0% |
For the 62 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 570 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 | 72 | 12.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 68 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 39 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 36 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 34 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 33 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 26 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 22 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 15 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 14 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 211 | 37.0% |
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 Parkersburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 319 | 56.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 44 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 22 | 3.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 19 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 17 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 13 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 13 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Incendiary device | 11 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 80 | 14.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Parkersburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 75% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Parkersburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
30 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 7 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,013 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 147 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 143 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 131 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 28.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 125 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 109 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 48.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 33.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 83 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 75 | 48.9 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 Parkersburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Parkersburg.
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.