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2025 County Report

Fires in Wayne County, WV

In 2025, fire departments serving Wayne County responded to 199 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

7,758 residents FIPS 54099 52 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
199
1,023 across 5 years
Building fires
59
40 wildland
Property loss
$5.1M
$3.5M structure · $1.6M 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 61% of all calls.

199
Total Incidents
Building fires 59 29.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 28 14.1%
Passenger vehicle fire 16 8.0%
Power line down 10 5.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 8 4.0%
All other categories 78 39.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Wayne County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 26
Feb 20
Mar 70
Apr 18
May 12
Jun 17
Jul 15
Aug 19
Sep 1
Oct 1
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Wayne County

1,023 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 193
2022 191
2023 211
2024 229
2025 199
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 59 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
51%
43
Cause undetermined
31%
26
Intentional / arson
2%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
3
Under investigation
7%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Wayne County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 62% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 FORT GAY Building fires Major
2 $200,000 Genoa Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 Wayne Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 EAST LYNN Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
5 $150,000 DUNLOW Building fires Significant
6 $125,000 Wayne Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
7 $125,000 East Lynn Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
8 $100,000 GENOA Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 GENOA Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $100,000 GENOA Building fires Significant
06 How Wayne County compares

Wayne County vs WV vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

25.65
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Wayne County
25.65
WV avg
22.82
US avg
7.15
7.61
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Wayne County
7.61
WV avg
4.85
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Wayne County
0
WV avg
41.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Wayne County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 54099.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Wayne County

8 departments report from this county.

EAST LYNN VFD
East Lynn
FDID 50109 58 incidents 25 vol
CEREDO VFD
CEREDO
FDID 50101 55 incidents 45 vol
KENOVA VFD
KENOVA
FDID 50107 35 incidents 42 vol
FORT GAY VFD
FORT GAY
FDID 50102 29 incidents 25 vol
WAYNE VFD
Wayne
FDID 50105 26 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.