In 2025, fire departments across West Virginia responded to 18,139 fire and hazmat incidents — including the GAULEY MTN wildfire that burned 12,325 acres in 1991.
West Virginia ranks #33 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 53% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Mar peaks across the window; Sep dips.
107,967 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 20,365 | |
| 2022 | 23,002 | |
| 2023 | 22,718 | |
| 2024 | 23,743 | |
| 2025 | 18,139 |
For the 3,853 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined / missing | 10,740 | 337 / 10,403 | 12,347 | |
| 2 | Arson / incendiarism | 9,956 | 7,667 / 2,289 | 338,271 | |
| 3 | Debris & open burning | 8,566 | 8,566 / 0 | 87,890 | |
| 4 | Equipment & vehicle use | 5,219 | 2,876 / 2,343 | 27,689 | |
| 5 | Power generation / utility | 1,288 | 1,288 / 0 | 14,677 | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 1,031 | 1,031 / 0 | 109,346 | |
| 7 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 976 | 976 / 0 | 4,669 | |
| 8 | Natural (lightning) | 895 | 295 / 600 | 6,253 | |
| 9 | Other causes | 895 | 444 / 451 | 6,182 | |
| 10 | Smoking | 705 | 705 / 0 | 2,563 | |
| 11 | Recreation & ceremony | 538 | 538 / 0 | 7,249 | |
| 12 | Railroad operations | 341 | 341 / 0 | 4,639 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Building fires | 33,389 | $332.2M | 176 | |
| 2 | Outdoor fires | 19,230 | $3.6M | 2 | |
| 3 | Electrical / wiring | 16,204 | $335K | 0 | |
| 4 | Wildland fires | 12,549 | $3.3M | 1 | |
| 5 | Gas leaks | 9,074 | $5K | 0 | |
| 6 | Vehicle fires | 7,838 | $55.3M | 17 | |
| 7 | Rubbish / refuse | 4,744 | $378K | 1 | |
| 8 | Cooking-related | 3,497 | $393K | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 2,526 | $20.2M | 8 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 14% of West Virginia's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,400,000 | Elkins | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $1,500,000 | Berkeley Spring | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $1,000,000 | logan | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $1,000,000 | FORT GAY | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $900,000 | MOSSEY | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major |
| 6 | $700,000 | Morgantown | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $700,000 | Morgantown | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $534,000 | LINDSIDE | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $500,000 | Fayetteville | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $500,000 | WEIRTON | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare West Virginia apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kanawha County | 1,851 | 120,512 |
| 2 | Berkeley County | 1,338 | 23,919 |
| 3 | Cabell County | 945 | 64,768 |
| 4 | Wood County | 875 | 55,026 |
| 5 | Monongalia County | 826 | 56,303 |
| 6 | Jefferson County | 818 | 20,216 |
| 7 | Harrison County | 800 | 39,577 |
| 8 | Marion County | 635 | 30,224 |
| 9 | Raleigh County | 578 | 39,517 |
| 10 | Ohio County | 538 | 33,094 |
Top 4 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wood County | 15.90 | 875 | 55,026 | |
| 2 | Kanawha County | 15.36 | 1,851 | 120,512 | |
| 3 | Monongalia County | 14.67 | 826 | 56,303 | |
| 4 | Cabell County | 14.59 | 945 | 64,768 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
320 perimeters and 20,651 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 33 | 628 | |
| 1980s | 103 | 1,100 | |
| 1990s | 89 | 12,676 | |
| 2000s | 48 | 819 | |
| 2010s | 19 | 2,459 | |
| 2020s | 28 | 2,969 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 8,123 | |
| 2000s | 9,641 | |
| 2010s | 6,689 | |
| 2020s | 611 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 25,064 ignitions total.
732 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 16 | |
| 10-19 | 38 | |
| 20-29 | 103 | |
| 30-39 | 122 | |
| 40-49 | 112 | |
| 50-59 | 109 | |
| 60-69 | 69 | |
| 70-79 | 66 | |
| 80+ | 42 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.