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2025 County Report

Fires in Monongalia County, WV

In 2025, fire departments serving Monongalia County responded to 826 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $700K property loss.

56,303 residents FIPS 54061 80 cities · 12 fire depts
Total incidents
826
4,169 across 5 years
Building fires
155
61 wildland
Property loss
$3.0M
$2.3M structure · $667K contents
Casualties
1 / 1
1 civ deaths · 1 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 60% of all calls.

826
Total Incidents
Building fires 155 18.8%
Power line down 154 18.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 86 10.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 55 6.7%
Carbon monoxide incident 44 5.3%
All other categories 332 40.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Monongalia County?

Apr peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 106
Feb 71
Mar 141
Apr 162
May 66
Jun 71
Jul 85
Aug 74
Sep 40
Oct 3
Nov 2
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Monongalia County

4,169 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 713
2022 940
2023 809
2024 881
2025 826
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 155 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
48%
70
Cause undetermined
18%
27
Intentional / arson
10%
15
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
16
Under investigation
10%
15
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Monongalia County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 85% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $700,000 Morgantown Building fires Major
2 $700,000 Morgantown Building fires Major
3 $120,000 MORGANTOWN Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Morgantown Building fires Significant
5 $90,000 Morgantown Building fires Significant
6 $80,000 MORGANTOWN Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
7 $50,000 Morgantown Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $50,000 Morgantown Building fires Significant
9 $40,000 MonongaliaCounty Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $40,000 GRANVILLE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Monongalia County compares

Monongalia County vs WV vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.67
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Monongalia County
14.67
WV avg
22.82
US avg
7.15
2.75
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Monongalia County
2.75
WV avg
4.85
US avg
0.82
17.8
Civilian fire deaths per million
Monongalia County
17.8
WV avg
41.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Monongalia County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 54061.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Monongalia County

12 departments report from this county.

MORGANTOWN FD
Morgantown
FDID 31207 278 incidents 45 paid
GRANVILLE VFD
Granville
FDID 31106 119 incidents 30 vol
BROOKHAVEN FD
Morgantown
FDID 31102 72 incidents 32 vol
CHEAT LAKE VFD
Morgantown
FDID 31104 66 incidents 26 vol
CLINTON DISTRICT VFD
Morgantown
FDID 31103 47 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.