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2025 County Report

Fires in Pendleton County, WV

In 2025, fire departments serving Pendleton County responded to 98 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss.

525 residents FIPS 54071 33 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
98
724 across 5 years
Building fires
22
15 wildland
Property loss
$1.7M
$1.0M structure · $637K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.

98
Total Incidents
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 29 29.6%
Building fires 22 22.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 10 10.2%
Power line down 7 7.1%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 5 5.1%
All other categories 25 25.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Pendleton County?

Jan peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 20
Feb 12
Mar 18
Apr 12
May 10
Jun 10
Jul 6
Aug 9
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 1
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Pendleton County

724 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 149
2022 115
2023 186
2024 176
2025 98
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 22 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
44%
7
Cause undetermined
38%
6
Intentional / arson
6%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
1
Under investigation
6%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Pendleton County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 Franklin Building fires Major
2 $250,000 FRANKLIN Building fires Major
3 $200,000 Franklin Building fires Significant
4 $75,000 Riverton Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
5 $75,000 Circleville Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 Circleville Fire, other Significant
7 $30,000 FRANKLIN Building fires Significant
8 $20,000 seneca rocks Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 CIRCLEVILLE Building fires Significant
10 $15,000 Upper Tract Building fires Significant
06 How Pendleton County compares

Pendleton County vs WV vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

186.67
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Pendleton County
186.67
WV avg
22.82
US avg
7.15
41.9
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Pendleton County
41.9
WV avg
4.85
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Pendleton County
0
WV avg
41.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Pendleton County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 54071.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Pendleton County

5 departments report from this county.

FRANKLIN VFD
Franklin
FDID 36101 50 incidents 33 vol
SOUTH FORK VFD
BRANDYWINE
FDID 36104 16 incidents 24 vol
CIRCLEVILLE VFD
Circleville
FDID 36102 12 incidents 16 vol
UPPER TRACT VFD
Upper Tract
FDID 36103 12 incidents 21 vol
SENECA ROCKS VFD
Seneca Rocks
FDID 36105 6 incidents 25 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.