In 2025, fire departments serving Rand responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 100% of all calls.
Jan peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
67 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $342K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | +20.0% | |
| 2023 | 12 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 19 | +58.3% | |
| 2025 | 14 | -26.3% |
For the 7 building fires Rand departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Rand mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 82.4% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rand departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rand sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 61,343 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Fireworks | 4,637 | 16.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,706 | 24.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,484 | 31.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,358 | 25.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,328 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 3,186 | 40.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,171 | 22.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,859 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,533 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,250 | 25.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,233 | 42.7 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 | 25306 | 67 |
Six West Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Rand. 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.