In 2025, fire departments serving Rivesville responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 79% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
166 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $804K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 42 | — | |
| 2022 | 31 | -26.2% | |
| 2023* | 19 | — | |
| 2024 | 50 | — | |
| 2025 | 24 | -52.0% |
* Well below Rivesville'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 7 building fires Rivesville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Rivesville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rivesville departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rivesville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,235 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Smoking | 394 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 150 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 147 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 125 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 117 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 102 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 85 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 76 | 23.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 71 | 25.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 70 | 32.6 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 Rivesville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Rivesville.
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.