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2025 County Report

Fires in Roane County, WV

In 2025, fire departments serving Roane County responded to 112 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss.

2,251 residents FIPS 54087 51 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
112
632 across 5 years
Building fires
15
34 wildland
Property loss
$872K
$770K structure · $102K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.

112
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 26 23.2%
Building fires 15 13.4%
Hazardous condition, other 14 12.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 9 8.0%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 8 7.1%
All other categories 40 35.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Roane County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 12
Feb 9
Mar 39
Apr 9
May 4
Jun 9
Jul 12
Aug 12
Sep 3
Oct 1
Nov 2
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Roane County

632 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 132
2022 139
2023 129
2024 120
2025 112
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 15 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
41%
17
Cause undetermined
51%
21
Intentional / arson
2%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
2%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $766K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Roane County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 99% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Walton Building fires Major
2 $150,000 Walton Building fires Significant
3 $76,000 Gandeeville Building fires Significant
4 $75,000 Amma Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $60,000 Newton Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $50,000 Walton Building fires Significant
7 $20,000 Spencer Building fires Significant
8 $20,000 Spencer Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $10,000 Gandeeville Building fires Significant
10 $5,000 Reedy Building fires Significant
06 How Roane County compares

Roane County vs WV vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

49.76
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Roane County
49.76
WV avg
22.82
US avg
7.15
6.66
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Roane County
6.66
WV avg
4.85
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Roane County
0
WV avg
41.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Roane County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 54087.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Roane County

6 departments report from this county.

SPENCERROANE VFD
Spencer
FDID 44101 43 incidents 45 vol
CLOVERROANE VFD
Spencer
FDID 44106 25 incidents 25 vol
NEWTON VFD
Newton
FDID 44104 19 incidents 35 vol
REEDY FD
Reedy
FDID 44102 10 incidents 15 vol
WALTON VFD
Walton
FDID 44103 9 incidents 14 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.