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2025 County Report

Fires in Raleigh County, WV

In 2025, fire departments serving Raleigh County responded to 578 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

39,517 residents FIPS 54081 127 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
578
3,782 across 5 years
Building fires
128
59 wildland
Property loss
$1.1M
$859K structure · $197K contents
Casualties
3 / 0
3 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 58% of all calls.

578
Total Incidents
Building fires 128 22.1%
Power line down 82 14.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 45 7.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 43 7.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 35 6.1%
All other categories 245 42.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Raleigh County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 90
Feb 59
Mar 96
Apr 74
May 66
Jun 58
Jul 67
Aug 50
Sep 6
Oct 5
Nov 7
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Raleigh County

3,782 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 727
2022 817
2023 788
2024 872
2025 578
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 128 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
27%
40
Cause undetermined
37%
54
Intentional / arson
10%
14
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
20
Under investigation
8%
12
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
7
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $665K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Raleigh County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 77% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 BECKLEY Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 BECKLEY Building fires Significant
3 $75,000 BECKLEY Building fires Significant
4 $75,000 BEAVER Building fires Significant
5 $65,000 BECKLEY Building fires Significant
6 $60,000 BECKLEY Building fires Significant
7 $60,000 BECKLEY Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 SHADY SPRING Building fires Significant
9 $40,200 COLCORD Building fires Significant
10 $40,000 BECKLEY Building fires Significant
06 How Raleigh County compares

Raleigh County vs WV vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.63
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Raleigh County
14.63
WV avg
22.82
US avg
7.15
3.24
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Raleigh County
3.24
WV avg
4.85
US avg
0.82
75.9
Civilian fire deaths per million
Raleigh County
75.9
WV avg
41.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Raleigh County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 54081.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Raleigh County

11 departments report from this county.

BECKLEY FD
Beckley
FDID 41202 155 incidents 44 paid
SOPHIA AREA VFD
Sophia
FDID 41111 62 incidents 13 vol
MABSCOTT FD
Mabscott
FDID 41109 57 incidents 23 vol
TRAP HILL VFD
Fairdale
FDID 41112 47 incidents 25 vol
COAL CITY VFD
COAL CITY
FDID 41105 42 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.