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2025 County Report

Fires in Barbour County, WV

In 2025, fire departments serving Barbour County responded to 138 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $60K property loss.

5,517 residents FIPS 54001 45 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
138
827 across 5 years
Building fires
64
19 wildland
Property loss
$648K
$478K structure · $170K contents
Casualties
0 / 8
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 8 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.

138
Total Incidents
Building fires 64 46.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 12 8.7%
Authorized controlled burning 11 8.0%
Aircraft standby 9 6.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 6 4.3%
All other categories 36 26.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Barbour County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 26
Feb 17
Mar 30
Apr 20
May 8
Jun 11
Jul 5
Aug 11
Sep 3
Oct 4
Nov 3
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Barbour County

827 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 186
2022 162
2023 161
2024 180
2025 138
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 64 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
65%
15
Cause undetermined
17%
4
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
2
Under investigation
9%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $420K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Barbour County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 88% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $60,000 BELINGTON Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
2 $60,000 philippi Building fires Significant
3 $60,000 philippi Building fires Significant
4 $60,000 philippi Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 BELINGTON Building fires Significant
6 $40,000 BELINGTON Building fires Significant
7 $30,000 BELINGTON Building fires Significant
8 $20,000 BELINGTON Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
9 $20,000 philippi Building fires Significant
10 $20,000 philippi Building fires Significant
06 How Barbour County compares

Barbour County vs WV vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

25.01
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Barbour County
25.01
WV avg
22.82
US avg
7.15
11.6
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Barbour County
11.6
WV avg
4.85
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Barbour County
0
WV avg
41.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Barbour County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 54001.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Barbour County

2 departments report from this county.

Belington VFD
BELINGTON
FDID 01101 51 incidents 29 vol
Junior Community VFD
Junior
FDID 01102 22 incidents 26 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in WV

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 GAULEY MTN 1991 NPS 12,324
2 Steep Valley 2023 NPS 2,182
3 Dry Hollow Fire 2019 USFS 1,288
4 ABRAHAM 2001 NPS 547
5 Castle 2018 USFS 427
6 Unnamed fire 1981 NPS 412
7 Highland 2024 NPS 231
8 North 2017 USFS 192
9 947 2023 USFS 165
10 873122 1987 NPS 162

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.