In 2025, fire departments serving Parsons responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
167 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $863K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 19 | — | |
| 2022 | 32 | — | |
| 2023 | 33 | +3.1% | |
| 2024 | 58 | +75.8% | |
| 2025 | 25 | -56.9% |
* Well below Parsons'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 3 building fires Parsons departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 25 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 | 6 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Roof surface: exterior | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Sales area, showroom (exclude display window) | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 16.0% |
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 Parsons mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Parsons sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,678 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Natural | 2,743 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,800 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,611 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,289 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 914 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 546 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 467 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 428 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Smoking | 394 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 330 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 293 | 49.4 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 Parsons. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Parsons.
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.