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2025 County Report

Fires in Lincoln County, WV

In 2025, fire departments serving Lincoln County responded to 193 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

3,789 residents FIPS 54043 43 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
193
1,110 across 5 years
Building fires
43
41 wildland
Property loss
$1.8M
$1.3M structure · $578K contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.

193
Total Incidents
Building fires 43 22.3%
Power line down 39 20.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 21 10.9%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 18 9.3%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 13 6.7%
All other categories 59 30.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lincoln County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 19
Feb 11
Mar 60
Apr 25
May 23
Jun 18
Jul 21
Aug 12
Sep 2
Oct 1
Nov 0
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Lincoln County

1,110 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 166
2022 237
2023 237
2024 277
2025 193
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 43 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
12%
9
Cause undetermined
53%
39
Intentional / arson
4%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
1%
1
Under investigation
26%
19
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Lincoln County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 81% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 Branchland Building fires Major
2 $150,000 Harts Building fires Significant
3 $130,000 west hamlin Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
4 $100,000 griffithsville Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
5 $94,900 Harts Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 west hamlin Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
7 $66,800 Ranger Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 Alum Creek Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 Harts Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 Ranger Building fires Significant
06 How Lincoln County compares

Lincoln County vs WV vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

50.94
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lincoln County
50.94
WV avg
22.82
US avg
7.15
11.35
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lincoln County
11.35
WV avg
4.85
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lincoln County
0
WV avg
41.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lincoln County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 54043.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lincoln County

5 departments report from this county.

ALUM CREEK VFD
Alum Creek
FDID 22101 69 incidents 25 vol
WEST HAMLIN VFD
West Hamlin
FDID 22105 43 incidents 24 vol
HAMLIN VFD
Hamilin
FDID 22104 29 incidents 33 vol
DUVAL DISTRICT VFD
Griffithsville
FDID 22102 14 incidents 20 vol
Mud River VFD
Spurlockville
FDID 22107 6 incidents 17 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.