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2025 County Report

Fires in Calhoun County, WV

In 2025, fire departments serving Calhoun County responded to 72 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $10K property loss.

371 residents FIPS 54013 44 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
72
347 across 5 years
Building fires
10
10 wildland
Property loss
$25K
$12K structure · $14K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.

72
Total Incidents
Power line down 17 23.6%
Building fires 10 13.9%
Aircraft standby 8 11.1%
Fire, other 7 9.7%
Hazardous condition, other 6 8.3%
All other categories 24 33.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Calhoun County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 3
Feb 7
Mar 18
Apr 9
May 7
Jun 15
Jul 11
Aug 2
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Calhoun County

347 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 54
2022 65
2023 67
2024 89
2025 72
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 10 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
80%
12
Cause undetermined
7%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
1
Under investigation
7%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $12K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Calhoun County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $10,000 Arnoldsburg Building fires Significant
2 $1,000 Arnoldsburg Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
3 $500 MtZion Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
4 $125 Arnoldsburg Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue Significant
5 $50 Arnoldsburg Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
6 $25 Arnoldsburg Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire Significant
06 How Calhoun County compares

Calhoun County vs WV vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

194.07
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Calhoun County
194.07
WV avg
22.82
US avg
7.15
26.95
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Calhoun County
26.95
WV avg
4.85
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Calhoun County
0
WV avg
41.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Calhoun County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 54013.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Calhoun County

3 departments report from this county.

GRANTSVILLE VFD
Grantsville
FDID 07101 35 incidents 20 vol
ARNOLDSBURG VFD
Arnoldsburg
FDID 07102 27 incidents 16 vol
UPPER WEST FORK VFD
Chloe
FDID 07104 11 incidents 21 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.