In 2025, fire departments serving Atkins responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
48 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $372K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | +9.1% | |
| 2023 | 8 | -33.3% | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 12 | — |
* Well below Atkins's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 3 building fires Atkins departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 63.6% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 9.1% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Atkins mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 63.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Atkins departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Atkins sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 32,301 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,832 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,850 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,531 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Smoking | 1,509 | 13.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,485 | 38.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 1,151 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 1,098 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,094 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,019 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,000 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 992 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 882 | 42.3 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24311 | 48 |
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Atkins. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Atkins.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.