In 2025, fire departments serving Weirton responded to 162 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 47% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
855 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.8M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 201 | — | |
| 2022 | 175 | -12.9% | |
| 2023 | 134 | -23.4% | |
| 2024 | 183 | +36.6% | |
| 2025 | 162 | -11.5% |
For the 26 building fires Weirton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 120 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 19 | 15.8% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 10 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 6 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 37 | 30.8% |
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 Weirton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 55 | 45.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 19 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 7 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 6 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 7.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Weirton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Weirton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,090 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 106 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 38.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 48 | 4.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 40 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 31 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 12.4 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 Weirton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Weirton.
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.