In 2025, fire departments serving Wheeling responded to 410 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 56% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,231 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.9M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 367 | — | |
| 2022 | 532 | +45.0% | |
| 2023 | 452 | -15.0% | |
| 2024 | 470 | +4.0% | |
| 2025 | 410 | -12.8% |
For the 39 building fires Wheeling departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 412 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 | 79 | 19.2% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 51 | 12.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 41 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 38 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 19 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Other | 14 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 13 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 12 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 118 | 28.6% |
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 Wheeling mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 199 | 48.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 39 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 33 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 29 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 20 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 17 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 5 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 33 | 8.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wheeling departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 81% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $78,660 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $78,660 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wheeling sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 5 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,476 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 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 147 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 102 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78 | 48.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 71 | 41.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 62 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 55 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 49 | 14.7 mi |
Top 10 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 Wheeling. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wheeling.
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.