In 2025, fire departments serving Sissonville responded to 37 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 84% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
290 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $326K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 56 | — | |
| 2022 | 60 | +7.1% | |
| 2023 | 62 | +3.3% | |
| 2024 | 75 | +21.0% | |
| 2025 | 37 | -50.7% |
For the 23 building fires Sissonville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 125 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 | 86 | 68.8% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 9 | Closet | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 8.8% |
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 Sissonville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 106 | 84.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 8 | Match | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 9 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 0.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sissonville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 55,578 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 | 30.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,706 | 36.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,484 | 47.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,358 | 41.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,328 | 26.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,171 | 37.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,250 | 35.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,090 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 2,063 | 38.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,033 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 1,940 | 39.9 mi |
Top 7 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 Sissonville. 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.