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2025 County Report

Fires in Gilmer County, WV

In 2025, fire departments serving Gilmer County responded to 42 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $40K property loss.

1,284 residents FIPS 54021 32 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
42
188 across 5 years
Building fires
8
7 wildland
Property loss
$250K
$133K structure · $118K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.

42
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 11 26.2%
Building fires 8 19.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 7 16.7%
Power line down 7 16.7%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 3 7.1%
All other categories 6 14.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Gilmer County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 4
Feb 4
Mar 10
Apr 9
May 3
Jun 7
Jul 3
Aug 2
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Gilmer County

188 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 21
2022 26
2023 51
2024 48
2025 42
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 8 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
20%
2
Cause undetermined
80%
8
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $133K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Gilmer County during 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $40,000 Sand Fork Building fires Significant
2 $40,000 Glenville Building fires Significant
3 $25,000 Glenville Building fires Significant
4 $25,000 Coxsmills Building fires Significant
5 $2,500 Shock Trash or rubbish fire, contained Significant
06 How Gilmer County compares

Gilmer County vs WV vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

32.71
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Gilmer County
32.71
WV avg
22.82
US avg
7.15
6.23
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Gilmer County
6.23
WV avg
4.85
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Gilmer County
0
WV avg
41.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Gilmer County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 54021.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Gilmer County

1 departments report from this county.

GILMER CO VFD
Glenville
FDID 11101 43 incidents 68 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.