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2025 County Report

Fires in Jackson County, WV

In 2025, fire departments serving Jackson County responded to 162 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

7,120 residents FIPS 54035 66 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
162
1,325 across 5 years
Building fires
42
21 wildland
Property loss
$1.5M
$649K structure · $838K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.

162
Total Incidents
Building fires 42 25.9%
Power line down 24 14.8%
Fire, other 11 6.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 11 6.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 10 6.2%
All other categories 64 39.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Jackson County?

May peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 18
Feb 20
Mar 25
Apr 21
May 35
Jun 9
Jul 17
Aug 10
Sep 5
Oct 2
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Jackson County

1,325 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 207
2022 330
2023 268
2024 358
2025 162
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 42 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
54%
29
Cause undetermined
22%
12
Intentional / arson
4%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
5
Under investigation
7%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $590K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Jackson County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 91% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Ravenswood Fire, other Significant
2 $120,000 Ravenswood Building fires Significant
3 $80,000 Sandyville Building fires Significant
4 $55,000 Evans Building fires Significant
5 $40,000 Ravenswood Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
6 $30,000 Cottageville Building fires Significant
7 $30,000 ripley Outside storage fire Significant
8 $15,000 Ripley Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $10,000 Sandyville Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $10,000 Ripley Building fires Significant
06 How Jackson County compares

Jackson County vs WV vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

22.75
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Jackson County
22.75
WV avg
22.82
US avg
7.15
5.9
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Jackson County
5.9
WV avg
4.85
US avg
0.82
140.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
Jackson County
140.4
WV avg
41.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Jackson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 54035.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Jackson County

4 departments report from this county.

RIPLEY VFD
Ripley
FDID 18103 46 incidents 38 vol
RAVENSWOOD VFD
Ravenswood
FDID 18102 45 incidents 35 vol
SOUTHERN JACKSON CO VFD
Ripley
FDID 18105 43 incidents 32 vol
SILVERTON VFD
Silverton
FDID 18104 19 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.