In 2025, fire departments serving Tornado responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $6K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
144 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $232K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 21 | — | |
| 2022 | 64 | +204.8% | |
| 2023 | 26 | -59.4% | |
| 2024* | 13 | — | |
| 2025 | 20 | — |
* Well below Tornado'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 0 building fires Tornado departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Tornado mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 72.2% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tornado departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,800 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tornado sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 60,187 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 | 32.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,706 | 40.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,484 | 39.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,358 | 37.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,328 | 14.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 3,186 | 44.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,171 | 29.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,250 | 21.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,233 | 41.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,090 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 2,063 | 29.5 mi |
Top 2 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 Tornado. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tornado.
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.