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2025 County Report

Fires in Wood County, WV

In 2025, fire departments serving Wood County responded to 875 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

55,026 residents FIPS 54107 57 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
875
5,729 across 5 years
Building fires
120
37 wildland
Property loss
$2.9M
$2.0M structure · $856K contents
Casualties
2 / 3
2 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.

875
Total Incidents
Power line down 157 17.9%
Aircraft standby 153 17.5%
Building fires 120 13.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 81 9.3%
Unauthorized burning 59 6.7%
All other categories 305 34.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Wood County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 101
Feb 99
Mar 147
Apr 127
May 107
Jun 95
Jul 89
Aug 99
Sep 0
Oct 2
Nov 5
Dec 4
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Wood County

5,729 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,121
2022 1,186
2023 1,301
2024 1,246
2025 875
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 120 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
45%
72
Cause undetermined
16%
25
Intentional / arson
11%
17
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
15
Under investigation
17%
27
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.5M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Wood County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 73% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Vienna Building fires Major
2 $150,000 Parkersburg Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 Parkersburg Building fires Significant
4 $140,000 Belleville Building fires Significant
5 $135,000 Parkersburg Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 waverly Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Parkersburg Building fires Significant
8 $75,000 Parkersburg Building fires Significant
9 $70,000 WILLIAMSTOWN Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 MINERAL WELLS Building fires Significant
06 How Wood County compares

Wood County vs WV vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

15.9
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Wood County
15.9
WV avg
22.82
US avg
7.15
2.18
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Wood County
2.18
WV avg
4.85
US avg
0.82
36.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Wood County
36.3
WV avg
41.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Wood County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 54107.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Wood County

11 departments report from this county.

PARKERSBURG FD
Parkersburg
FDID 54205 449 incidents 63 paid
Vienna VFD
Vienna
FDID 54107 83 incidents 1 paid 27 vol
WAVERLY VFC
Waverly
FDID 54109 55 incidents 33 vol
MINERAL WELLS VFD
Mineral Wells
FDID 54106 54 incidents 26 vol
EAST WOOD VFD
Davisville
FDID 54103 53 incidents 35 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.