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2025 County Report

Fires in Mingo County, WV

In 2025, fire departments serving Mingo County responded to 152 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $482K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

6,957 residents FIPS 54059 67 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
152
948 across 5 years
Building fires
28
26 wildland
Property loss
$1.2M
$880K structure · $359K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 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 59% of all calls.

152
Total Incidents
Building fires 28 18.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 18 11.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 15 9.9%
Power line down 15 9.9%
Aircraft standby 14 9.2%
All other categories 62 40.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Mingo County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 13
Feb 21
Mar 37
Apr 19
May 19
Jun 13
Jul 12
Aug 16
Sep 1
Oct 0
Nov 1
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Mingo County

948 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 175
2022 196
2023 189
2024 236
2025 152
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 28 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
46%
31
Cause undetermined
28%
19
Intentional / arson
7%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
3
Under investigation
10%
7
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $777K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $482,000 Lenore Building fires Major
2 $80,000 Delbarton Building fires Significant
3 $50,000 Gilbert Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 Dingess Building fires Significant
5 $30,000 Dingess Building fires Significant
6 $25,000 Dingess Building fires Significant
7 $15,000 DELBARTON Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $15,000 DELBARTON Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 DELBARTON Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $15,000 Williamson Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Mingo County compares

Mingo County vs WV vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

21.85
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Mingo County
21.85
WV avg
22.82
US avg
7.15
4.02
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Mingo County
4.02
WV avg
4.85
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Mingo County
0
WV avg
41.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Mingo County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 54059.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Mingo County

10 departments report from this county.

GILBERT VFD
Gilbert
FDID 29103 24 incidents 20 vol
MATEWAN FD
Matewan
FDID 29105 23 incidents 27 vol
DELBARTON VFD
Delbarton
FDID 29102 18 incidents 25 vol
CHATTAROY VFD
Chattaroy
FDID 29101 17 incidents 18 vol
BAISDEN VFD
Baisden
FDID 29106 12 incidents 18 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.